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UNITED STATES r:,? -AMEEIOA. 



THE HISTORY OF A PENITENT. 



GUIDE FOR THE INQUIRING: 



m A comme:^tary 



ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTIETH PSALM. 

GEO. Av/bETHUI^E, D.D., 

MINISTER OF THE REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH ON THE HE.IGJ 
BROOKLYN. 



THIRD (revised) EDITION. '^ 




FEW YORK: 

BOARD OF PUBLICATION 

OF THE 

REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH, 
SYNOD'S ROOMS, 61 FRANKLIN STREET. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S59, by 

REV. THOMAS C. STRONa, 

On behalf of the Board of Publication of the R. P. Dutch Church in 

North America, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court 

of the United States for the Southern District 

of New York. 



H O S F K D & CO., 
3 T A T I N E R 5 A N D PR I N T E R S , !JK 

57 and ".9 William St., N. Y. '^ 






\ * 



T 

Jo 

"^ TO 

-? 

^ JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D. D., 

LONG 

MY VALUED FRIEND, 

NOW 

THE AFFECTIONATE PASTOR 

OF 

MY VENERABLE, BELOVED MOTHER, 

AS 

A TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE 

FOR 

HIS KINDNESS TO HER, 

AND 

A TOKEN OF PERSONAL ESTEEM, 

THESE 

PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY 

DEDICATED. 



CONTENTS 



Preface 7 

I, The subject opened 9 

II. The Penitent's jS^atural Condition 19 

III The Helper of the Penitent 41 

lY. The Prayer of the Penitent 61 

Y. The Conviction of the Penitent '79 

YI. The Faith of the Penitent 103 

YII. The Conduct of the Penitent 12^7 

YIII. The Exhortation of the Penitent 153 

IX. The Exhortation of the Penitent, continued 1*75 
X. The Exhortation of the Penitent. — Religious 

Profession 193 

XI. The Exhortation of the Penitent. — Religious 

Example 215 

XII. The Exhortation of the Penitent. — Religious 

Conversation 241 



1* 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



This little book has not been printed, because there is 
any lack of better treatises, having a simiLir aim ; but, 
as, when many preachers discourse npon the same text, 
God often blesses a weaker sermon where a stronger has 
failed, the author hopes for a like influence som.etimes to 
accompany his pages ; and that it may, asks the reader's 
prayers. 

His view of the Psalm, though differing from that taken 
of it by those Commentators who confine its scope to a 
believer's experience in affliction, he thinks is justified by 
the analysis given. His purpose has been, to help the 
inquiring soul and the young Christian, with counsel 
taken immediately from the unerring Word. He has, 
therefore, studied conformity to Scripture, ratlier than 
novelty of thought, and plainness more than grace of 
style; allowing himself a diffuseness, in some cases almost 
tautological, that, by repeated emphasis, he might im- 
press weighty truths, which a more elegant conciseness 
wonld have failed to fix npon the mind. It Avas a remark 
of his sainted grandmother (Mrs. Isabella Graham), that 
" those religious writers are the most edifying, who have 

7 



Vm PREFACE. 

the most italics" alluding to the eiistoni printers then had 
of distinguishing quotations from the Bible by that type ; 
and it is a fond, but not unwarranted theory of his, that 
the more Scripture we use aptly, the more inspiration we 
have. There is a peculiar blessing upon the words, 
" spoken by holy men of old as they were moved by the 
Holy Gl^ost," which does not forsake them, when ti ans- 
ferred to the uttered sermon, or the evangelical essay. 
Hence, every position taken in the following chapters, is 
backed b}^ cited Scripture ; the reference to which is 
carefully given, that those disposed to the search, m^ay 
know the place of each text, and ascertain its exact 
meaning from the connexion in which it stands ; a 
practice fraua'lit with many advantages. 

Nothing now remains for him, but to commit the book, 
undertaken from an humble desire of usefulness, to the 
providence of Him, who, as the Head of his Church, is 
Head over all things, in the hope, that, like bread cast 
upon the waters, it may be found after many days. 

Philadelphia, December, 1847. 



The author has had proofs that God has been pleased , 
to bless this book beyond his hopes, and, therefore, is led 
to give it into more energetic hands for a wider distribu- 
tion. 

Brooklyn, December, 1858. 



THE HISTOEY OF A PENITENT SOUL. 



I. 
THE SUBJECT OPENED. 

"As ill water face answeretli to face, so," saith 
the Wisdom, " answereth tlie heart of man to 
man." No one man is so like himself, as all 
men are like each other. There are particular 
traits to mark the individual, but one true defi- 
nition of man embraces all men. A man may be 
inconsistent with himself, but never with human 
nature. We are all children of the same family. 
Hence there are two methods of becoming ac- 
quainted with ourselves, the study of ourselves, 
and the study of other men. When Massillon 
was asked how he, who had lived all his life so 
secluded from the world, had gotten so nice a 

9 



10 THESU EJECT 

kno\Yleclge of human nature, lie answered, " By 
the study of my own heart." Another good man, 
seeing a criminal carried past to the gallows, cried 
out, " There, but for the grace of God, go I my- 
self." We may see all men in ourselves, and our- 
selves in every man. 

For this reason, the Bible contains not only doc- 
trine, and precept, and promise, but also many 
histories of men, especially of the pious, not hesi- 
tating to acquaint us vritli their errors, as Abra- 
ham's lie, Jacob's meanness, David's adultery, and 
Peter's blasphemy ; showing also their chastise- 
ments, repentings, and deliverances, that the be- 
liever of every age may know that the best saints 
vv'ere sinners, and thus learn to distrust himself be- 
cause of his weakness, while he trusts in God not- 
withstanding his weakness, being cautious in his 
strength, and hopeful in his infirmity. We have 
one example that is perfect, the hfe of Jesus in the 
midst of temptations, to teach us what the be- 
liever ought to be ; very many that are faulty, to 
teach us what we are ever in danQ;er of beino- ; in 



. OPENED. 11 

a word, tliat our nature is only evil, and that good- 
ness can come only of grace. 

Yet we cannot always discover from a man's 
outward circumstances and conduct, Ms inner 
tliouglits and lieart-experience, Avliere, indeed, tlie 
springs, principles, and motives of actions all lie. 
Man is not wliat lie seems, but wliat lie is witliin. 
Wherefore, tlie Holy Gliost moved holy men of 
old to write their inner thoughts and heart-expe- 
rience, for our learning ; and, as they did so under 
the strong impulse of the Spirit of Truth, which 
searcheth all things, they have laid bare to our 
view tlie man within them, truthfully and without 
reserve. The Book of Psalms is a most precious 
and full collection of prayers, meditations, and 
praises, expressive of all the emotions which a be- 
liever can feel in this life. This gives them their 
excellent power, and aptitude, and sweetness, for 
vvdiile they contain many things besides, especially 
prophetic revealings of the Messiah, they supply 
to believers an inspired manual of devotional 
thought and language, that we may never be at a 



12 THE SUBJECT 

loss for words in wliicli to express our emotions, or 
for rules to guide us in our thoughts.^ As tliej 
Yfere tlie liturgy of tlie Jewish Churcli, so tliey are 
of the Christian, a book of Common Prayer and 
Praise, provided by God himself, in which every 
sin-troubled, Christ-trusting, heaven-hoping soul, 
may find his own experience precursed, and the 
very words that he wants vrritten down for his use. 
For there is nothing of religion that may not be 
learned from the Psalms.f It is an oj)en treasury 
of all good lessons ;J a paradise in Avhich grow all 
manner of fruits ;§ the fountain waters of salvation 
flowing through the limbecks of David, that we 
may draw them with joy ;j| a clear mirror in which 
the believer may see his own soul 'M a living" 

^ -no 

anatomy of all our spiritual being, by which the 
Holy Ghost shows us all the exercises of our 
hearts, our sorrows and griefs, our fears and our 

* Tertullian. f Augustine. 

t Basil § Athanasius. 

II Jeremy Taylor. ^ Luther. Franck. 



OPENED. 13 

doubts, our hopes, cares, and anxieties, in a word, 
whatever agitates and moves us.^ 

The more a Christian grows in the knowledge 
of the Divine hfe, the more he loves the Psalms ; 
they are the milk of his infancy, the counsels of 
his youth, the solaces of his age. In them the 
Lord his Shepherd leads him to the greenest pas- 
tures, the coolest and most quiet waters. While 
he has this golden book, this epitome of all Scrip- 
ture,f his table is ever furnished with pleasant 
food, his cup runs over with the wine of the king- 
dom, and an excellent oil is poured upon his head. 
''Is any afflicted?" says the xipostle James, "let 
him pray. Is any merry ? let him sing psalms." 
Prayers and psalms are both supplied in the one 
book. In them we worship, we pray, and sing 
with the Church of all ages. They have been the 
songs of every pilgrim, and they will be sung 
until the new song of heaven shall employ all the 
tongues of the redeemed. 

* Calvin. ^ 

t Aima juvenum, parva Biblia, tribulatorum solatia. 



14 THE SUBJECT 

Among tlie Psalms there are some more fre- 
quently adapted to om* meditations tlian others, 
because more consonant with our ordinary expe- 
rience. The cxxxth is one of these. In its brief 
compass we have a complete history of a peni- 
tent's life, nor can we study it to the end without 
haying gone through all the articles of our creed 
in the order of Christian education, the heart- 
learning of tlie truth. 

To a meditation on this most admirable com- 
pcnd let me inyite 3^ou, felloAy-sinner, and, (I trust,) 
fellow-Christian. Let me be to you rather as a 
companion than a guide. The Scriptures are most 
perilous to the presumptuous and arrogant. So far 
from pretending to know all, 1 have passed over 
but a very little part of the way in which God leads 
his people, and that the plainest and most beaten. 
Yet, even my little experience may be of some 
service to another. There may be those who see 
more in this Scripture than I. All have not the 
same deo-ree of lio-ht. AYe can oive only as God 
has given us ; but that shall be my endeavour. 



OPENED. 15 

God alone can teach perfectly. Let us ask him to 
teach us. 

THE PRAYER. 

O Father of lights, shining in the face of thy 
Son Jesus Christ, give us, according to thy pro- 
mise, liberally of that wisdom which cometh down 
from above, that so we may, by thy Holy Spirit, 
be delivered from all blindness of heart, presump- 
tion, and slavish fear. Convince us of our sin and 
its extreme misery. Reveal unto us, as thou dost 
not unto the world, the redemption which is in 
Christ Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life, by 
whom alone we can come unto thee. Grant us 
grace to serve thee, and wait upon thee at all times 
Avith gladness and reverence, ever desiring the 
safety of thy presence, and the coming of thy 
glory : and not only in us, but in all thy people, 
shed abroad thy truth, that we may never more 
doubt the fullness or the freeness of thy mercy, 
even unto the perfect redemption by Jesus Christ 
our Lord. For his sake hear our cry, and let thine 



16 THESU EJECT 

ears be attentive to the voice of our supplications. 
Amen. 

THE ORDER. 

The order of the Psahnist's thoughts will direct 
our ovv^n. 

First : The condition of the penitent. 

In " the depths." 

Secondly : The Helper of the penitent. 

" The Lord Jehovah." 

Thirdly : The prayer of the penitent. 

A cry, earnest, persevering, expecting. 

Fourthly : The conviction of the penitent. 

" If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O 
Lord, who shall stand?" 

Fifthly : The faith of the penitent. 

" There is forgiveness with thee, that thou 
mayest be feared." 

Sixthly : The conduct of the penitent. 

" I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in 
his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord 



OPENED. 17 

more tlian they that watcli for tlie morning ; I say, 
more than they that watch for the mornmg." 

Seventhly : The exhortation of the penitent. 

" Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord 
there is mercy ; and w^ith him is plenteous redemp- 
tion. And he shall redeem Israel from all his 
iniquities." 



2* 



II. 



THE PENITENT'S NATURAL CONDITION. 



'' Out of tlie depths have I cried unto tliee, 
Lord." 

" The depths." He cries as from a miry gulf 
into which he sinks, and must be swalloY/ed up if 
no help come. This figure is frequent in the 
Psahns. TIjus : ^' Save me, O God, for the waters 
are come in unto my souL I sink in deep mire 
where there is no standing. I am come into deep 
waters, where the floods overflow me" (Psahn Ixix. 
1, 2). "Let not the water-flood overflow me, 
neither let the deep swallow me up. Let not 
the pit shut her mouth upon me" (Psalm Ixix. 

19 



20 THE penitent's 

15). "Mine iniquities are gone over my head, as 
an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me" 
(Psalm xxxviii. 4). " All thy waves and thy bil- 
lows are gone over me" (Psalm xlii. 7). In an- 
other place he speaks of his " Spirit being over- 
whelmed within him" (Psalm cxlii. 3) ; and, 
again, he gives thanks unto God, because he had 
"brought him up out of an horrible pit, out of the 
miry clay, and set his feet upon a rock, and estab- 
lished his goings" (Psalm xl. 2). Here are defile- 
ment, danger, and helplessness. Such is the sense 
which the true penitent has of his natural condi- 
tion, because the Holy Spirit shows to him his sins, 
his guiltiness, and his corruption. 

His sins. — The first work of the Holy Ghost in 
turning the sinner unto God, is to " convince him 
of sin" (John xvi. 8). Left to himself the sinner 
is a fool, thoughtless, inconsiderate, and misjudg- 
ing (Psalm xcii. 6). He shuts out God from his 
thoughts (Psalm xiv. 1). "There is no fear of 
God before his eyes" (Psalm xxxvi. 1). "He 
flattereth himself in his own eyes" (Psalm xxxvi. 



NATURAL CONDITION. 21 

2). He tries Mmself only by his own notions, tlie 
condnct of liis fellow men, or the rules of the world 
(2 Cor. X. 12). If he thinks of the law of God at 
all, it is with a very partial and dim perception of 
its spirit and extent (Rom. vii. 9). He fancies 
that it may be kept without an entire surrender of 
his heart (Matt. xix. 20, 21), and he readily ex- 
cuses himself for any transgression, calling his sins 
little sins, and is at his ease, saying, I have done 
no evil (Pro v. xxx. 20). If he would but honestly 
consider the character of God (Job xxii. 15), the 
perfection of his law (Psalm cxix. 96), and his own 
inner heart, he could not fail to be convinced of 
sin (Rom. vii. 9) ; but inconsideration is ever the 
effect of sin (Isaiah i. 3). He will not think, 
will not look into the mirror of the law of liberty 
(James i. 22-25). He shuns retirement and soli- 
tude, that in the whirl of gaiety, or the pursuit of 
wealth, honour or carnal knowledge, he may hide 
himself from himself (Matt. xiii. 22). He is in a 
constant delirium, which if not broken by power 



22 THE pexitext's 

from on Mgli, will go with liim to his grave 
(Eccles. ix. 3). 

The blessed Spirit, intent upon the sinner's sal- 
vation, by various means, as affliction, an unusual 
providence, a sick bed, or a startling sermon, per- 
haps a text of Scripture, a page in a good book, 
or a pious friend's advice, compels him to think. 
Then He brings before the sinner's soul the holy 
majesty of God. "With the grandeur of the Crea- 
tor, He abashes the sinful creature into the dust ; 
with the purity of the Divine character, He dis- 
covers the utter imperfection of any human right- 
eousness ; with the goodness of the Almighty 
Giver, He condemns as base ingratitude the sin of 
forgetting him ; with the sternness of his justice, 
the scrutiny of his omniscience, the irresistible-- 
ness of his power. He takes away all hope of 
paltering with him, eluding him, or resisting him. 
God reveals himself as a consuming fire. 

He applies to the conscience of the sinner the 
holy law of God : First, in its vast scope and all- 
ensfrossino' demands. ^' Tliou shalt love the Lord 



NATURAL CONDITION. 23 

thy God, with all thy heart and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength ;" 
" and thy neighbour as thyself" (Mark xii. 30, 
31). Who can stand this test? Who has loved 
God with all his affections, and with all his facul- 
ties, and with all his understanding, and with all his 
energies ? Who has meted to his neighbour as he 
would have his nei<Thbour mete to him ao^ain? 
Then, the law is applied in its particulars. The 
sinner sees his sins against God immediately, his 
idolatry of the creature, his unspiritual notions of 
religion, his profanation of God's name, his breaches 
of the Sabbath, his neglect of Divine worship ; 
and his sins against God as committed against his 
fellow men, his violation of social duties, his hatred 
and lust of revenge, his impurities of thought and 
overt act, his grasping after undue gain, his uncan- 
did concealments, slanders, tale-bearings or un- 
truths, his covetous envyings or jealous rivalries. 
Instances of some or all these sins rise to his 
remembrance, especially the besetting sins, to 
which from temperament, or circumstances, or 



24 THE pexitext's 

habit, lie is peculiarly subject. All his dreams 
of rigliteousncss are now dissipated. He can see 
no good in himself. There is no soundness in 
him. The tremendous penalty of the law against 
him who hreahs even the least of God's conamand- 
ments, the sentence of eternal death, the fiery 
wrath of God for ever, shows him God's estimate 
of his sins. He feels the wrath of God abiding; on 
him. 

Then the Hc-ly Spirit reveals the hohj mercy of 
God ; his provision of grace, but his refusal to 
save except by the righteousness of his own Son ; 
his giving that Son to die in the sinners stead, 
but his infliction upon the Surety of the full weight 
of our chastisement ; his readiness to justify, but 
his justification of none who do not submit them- 
selves to the rule of Christ ; his delight in pardon- 
ino% vet never pardonino- when the sanctifvina' 
Spirit is resisted and quenched. Yes ! the keenest 
pangs of repentance are shot {hrough the soul from 
the cross of Christ, the sinless Suff'erer, for the sin- 
ner's trangres^ions ; the bitterness of his agonies 



NATURAL CONDITION. 25 

awaken tlie penitent's bittCx^est sorrows ; and in 
tlie bloody sweat lie sees tlie crusniiig weiglit of 
that pnnisliment wliicli he deserv^es. He reproach- 
es himself as without excuse, as utterly ungrateful 
and base for having so long despised the love of 
the Father who gave his Son, the love of the Son 
who gave his life, and the love of the Spirit by 
whom the good news, so long neglected, v/as 
brought to his soul. 

Thus is he in the depths because of his sins. 
He bemoans himself as very sinful. None could 
be more sinful, he thinks, than himself. He 
knows so much more of his ov/n heart than 
the hearts of others, that he accounts himself 
the very chiefest of sinners. He thinks of the 
height of God's holiness, and then he sees how 
deeply he has sunk, how very far gone from right- 
eousness he is. He feels that every precept of the 
law sinks him deeper and deeper. Even the love 
of Christ reveals how utterly vile he must have 
been to need such a Saviour, and because he lias 
neo-lected that Saviour so lono;, he fears that he 

3 



26 THE penitent's 

may liave sunk too low even for mercy. He cries 
unto tlie Lord from the very deptlis of liis soul, 
because from tlie deptlis of sin. 

His guiltiness. — The sinner untaught by the 
Holy Ghost, though he may be warned of God's 
just wrath against sin, and of the eternal doom he 
has pronounced against the sinner, can never be 
brought to see his desert of such punishment. He 
yet will fancy that God is such another as himself, 
and will not be so unrelenting or exacting, as to 
send a soul away into eternal misery for such 
trifling transgressions. But the Holy Spirit con- 
vinces him of his guilt by the same method. 

The penitent acknowledges that God is right. 
The Holy One has threatened eternal death, and it 
must be the sinners due. The merciful, the good, 
and the loving God, has threatened eternal death ; 
and what must be the guihiness of sin which 
wrung such a sentence from His lips who com- 
manded life ? Sin committed against One so 
infinitely worthy of all adoration, love, and ser- 
vice ; committed too by the creature he made, 



NATURAL CONDITION. 27 

with the strength he gave, while he held the sin- 
ner up and blessed him with bounty, set his 
statutes as guides before his feet, and invited him 
to favour, peace and honour; such sin, by such a 
creature, against such a Lord, must be guilty be- 
yond measurement or thought. 

It is not one commandment, but many, that the 
penitent has broken, and that not once but often, 
nay, continually ; and yet how wise are those com- 
mandments, and how kind the care that revealed 
them ! How just that we should so serve God 1 
How admirably adapted to secure our present and 
eternal happiness ! How necessary to the order 
of the Divine government, and to peace on earth ! 
What an incalculable train of good may bo pre- 
vented by our transgression? What an incalcu- 
lable train of e\dl may be laid by the same trans- 
gression ! How certainly will the corruption that 
sin has wrought in our natures, urge us on to the 
constant and perpetual accumulation of fresh guilt ! 
Thus does the penitent ratify God's sentence 



28 THE PENITENTS 

against liimself, and acknowledge himself in the 
lowest depths of guilt. 

But all remainino; doubt of his deservuno; that 
fearful penalty y> hich God has pronounced upon the 
sinner, U-iust be taken away when he looks upon 
Christ and his atoning work. Then he beholds 
the very advocate, the devoted friend, the Saviour 
of the sinner, bowing his vicarious head in lov>dy 
acknovrledgment, that '* the wages of sin is death." 
Jesus never plead.s for the sinner's pardon, except 
upon the ground of his OAvn obedience even unto 
the death of the cross. He never offers salvation, 
except to those who accept his sacrifice as due to 
justice for them. He, after all his sufferings, 
abandons to fiery wrath the soul that will not 
repent. Xone can escape who do not acknowledge 
themselves guilty as God declares them to be. O 
what depths of guilt are those to which Christ 
stooped for the sinner's rescue ! How much 
deeper is thcit impenitent hardness of heart, which 
even the mercy of Christ will not reach ! 



NATURAL CONDITION. 29 

His corruption. — The sinner in his blindness, 
even though he may have some occasional pangs 
of conscience, and dread of God's wrath against 
him as a sinner, is yet fond of denying that he is 
altogether corrupt. His sins, he persuades him- 
self, are induced by the force of circumstances, the 
suddenness, the subtlety, or the strength of temp- 
tation ; and though at times he makes the weak- 
ness of human nature an excuse, he yet believes 
that, if he chose, he has strength enough to resist 
temptation and lead a good life, as if his sins were 
occasional, but his moral strength sound at the 
heart. 

The true penitent deplores the corruption of his 
whole nature. He mourns his overt acts of sin 
chiefly because they indicate the absence of good 
principle vfitliin. It is the departure of his heart 
from God, that excites his deepest contrition. He 
proposes, he endeavours to live liolily and godly, 
but in vain. There is a constant flow of evil from 
within him. Nothing comes from his heart but 
sin. He " must be born again," his nature must 
3^ 



80 THE penitent's 

be entirely renewed, lie nnist have strength from 
on high, or he will sinl: deeper and deeper in the 
mire '' where there is no standing." There can be 
no salvation for him, if he be not saved from his 
sins by a higher povrer. 

This he feels the more, the more he considers 
the character of God. Hovf shall he, all polluted 
as he is, dare to offer himself as God's servant? 
Ilov\' utterly incompetent he is to render an obe- 
dience fit to appear in the Divine sight, vvhicli 
looks in upon the heart and takes account of every 
thought and every motive ? lie cries out v/ith 
David unto the Lord : '' I acknowledge my trans- 
gression, and my sin is ever ])efore me. Against 
thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in 
thy sight ; that thou might est be justified when 
thou speakest, an.d be clear when thou judgest. 
Behold, I was shapen in ini(|uity, and in sin did 
my mother conceive me"' (Psalm li. 3-5). And 
his petition is nothing less than, '' Create in me a 
clean heart, God, and renew a right spirit within 
me. Cast uie not away from thy presence, and 



XATURxVL CONDITIOX. 31 

take not thy Holy Spirit from me" (Pt-alm li. 
10, 11). 

The purity and breadth of God's command- 
ments destroy all hope of his ever being- able to 
keep them by his own strength ; and yet he knows 
that he ought to keep them. He desires earnestly 
to l«:.eep them ; but in the most zealous attem])t, he 
discovers his utter weakness. He can be satisfied 
with nothing less than the periect holiness which 
they require, and that perfect holiness is in strong 
contrast to his halting, stumbling, broken endea- 
vours. Like one in (]uicksand or deep mire, his 
sti'ugglings to get free seeni but to sink him 
clee|)e]'. 

Nay, the very salvation wliich is in Christ Jesus, 
until he is able to grasp it for his rescue^, presses 
him down. For the Gospel is preached to " the 
lost." It declares that, " when w^e wxre without 
strength, Christ died for the ungodly" (Eom. 
V. 6) ; that, by the law no flesh living can be jus- 
tified (Rom. iii. 20) ; that, ^YQ are all by nature 
dead in trespasses and sins ; that none can be 



82 THE penitent's 

saved, except tliey be waslied, sanctified, and justi- 
fied in tlie name of tlie Lord Jesus, and by the 
Spirit of God (1 Cor. vi. 11). How entire must 
bo tlie corruption of that nature wliicli cannot be 
cleansed by any less means tlian tlie priceless 
blood of Jesus I How impotent for good wlien it 
is dead in trespasses and sins ! How utterly de- 
pendent upon Divine grace, wlien only tlie creating 
energy of tlie Almiglity Spirit can give it any life 
or strength ! Thus the penitent cries unto the 
Lord out of the depths of his corruption, hopeless 
of deliverance by his own efforts, those very efforts 
increasing his fears. 

These are the depths out of which the penitent 
cries unto God. 

Li this ^'horrible pit and miry clay" are we all 
plunged by our sins, guilt, and corruption; biit^ 
though all must pass through the slough, some 
are involved in it more deeply and longer than 
others. 

Those who have been early and well instructed 
in Christian doctrine, when, by the merciful seve- 



NATURAL CONDITION. 33 

rity of God, tliey are cast into tliese depths, know 
wliat sucli distress means. Tliey know tke way 
of deliverance. Tliey are not so startled as if it 
were altogether new to tliem. The Scriptures, in 
their memory, come to tlieir help. They answxr 
their own cry, ^^ What must I do to be saved?" 
out of the Gospel. The unhappy soul, vvdiom no 
kind parent, nor pious teacher, has instructed in 
the way of life, or who has shut his ears against all 
instruction, is confounded by the utter and terrible 
novelty of his condition, and despairs of help be- 
cause he knows not of any. 

Those who have long sinned against light, and 
resisted the striving of the Spirit of God, or have 
given themselves up to degrading pollutions or 
blasphemous impiety, are usually made to feel 
these horrors of conscience the more severely. 
They are really more vile, more guilty, more pol- 
luted. Their pride, which v>^as so obstinate, must 
be thoroughly broken, their corruption more se- 
verely chastised, that in their future life tliey may 
walk more humbly, more dependently, more can- 



34 THE penitent's 

tioiisly. As tliey liave more pollution to be burned 
away, tlie fire that cleanses tliein must be fiercer 
and burn longer. 

Those wlio at once believe A^'liolly upon tlie 
Lord Jesus Christ, and accept the new heart from 
God's Spirit by a simple faith, as did the gaoler at 
Philippi, like him at once receive deliverance. 
But the sinner, who, though partly persuaded of 
his sins, yet clings to some hope of deliverance 
by his own strength, or proposes to himself some 
reformation before he comes to Christ ; in a word, 
is not willing to trust Christ and his Spirit for all 
that he needs, or so doubts the simple Gospel, that 
he dreams of some unusual method of deliverance 
and assurance, will be plunged again and again 
deeper and deeper in the miry depths, until, his 
heart being empty of all hope besides, the hope 
in Christ enters and reigns alone, that Christ may 
have all the glory of being all in all. 

Although these depths of distress are always 
found at the beginning of a penitent's life, it by 
no means follows, that, having been once delivered. 



NATURAL CONDITION. 85 

he may not fall into tliem again, and even many 
times. For tlie penitent, even after having been 
brought unto faith in Christ, is still a sinner, com- 
passed about with a body of sin and death, until 
he reaches heaven. He is upheld by Divine grace 
alone. 

If, therefore, he becomes careless of his walk, 
negligent of the means of grace, above all of secret 
prayer and the study of God's owm word; if he 
omit known duties, and allow^ himself to commit 
known sins ; if he be covetous of the w^orld's 
goods, w^hich is idolatry ; or fond of the world's 
pleasures, which is folly ; or aim at the world's ap- 
plause, which is enmity against God ; if he be un- 
charitable in his judgment of his brethren, harsh, 
or unforgiving, unw^illing to bestow upon another's 
need; then does God in his fatherly discipline, 
take away from him the joys of his salvation, and 
the upholding of his free Spirit. He causes him 
again to see the " hole of the pit from whence he 
was digged," the sin, the guilt, and the corruption 
of his nature, that afterwards he may remember he 



36 THE pexitext's 

is notliing in liimself, and keep low at tlie tlirone 
Off grace "tliat lie may obtain mercy and find 
grace to help in time of need.'' 

If, tliough zealonsly active in all tlie outv^'ard 
duties of religion, and especially in advancing the 
cause of God, lie yet presmnes upon liis own 
strength, and relies npon means and instniments, 
forgetful of the ever necessary though unseen help 
of the Spirit of God, vrliich alone is efficient, 
then does God tahe avray that Spirit, that he may 
discover in the darkness, the beaut v of the lio;ht ; 
in his prostration, the need of Divine upholding; 
in his errors, that God's guidance is best; in his 
failures, that God only can give the increase. 

There are also some moral temperaments tl:at 
need repeated and severe checks and chasti'^e- 
ments, but when disciplined become most service- 
able to the Church. Thus the strong sinner is 
often converted into the stronger saint. How 
often was Jacob scourged to cure him of his 
worldliuess ! How lowly and cautiously David 
walked after he had been permitted to fall into 



NATURAL CONDITION. 37 

sin, and to struggle in these depths ! He was 
very dear to God, but how often do we find him 
in the deep waters ! Compare Peter in his epis- 
tles, the sufferer, meek, patient, and relying only 
upon God, with the heady, rash, and self-confident 
Peter we find in the gospels ! Paul, too, how he 
cries out at times in the depths of his distresses, 
distresses almost as deep as his darkness before 
Ananias found him ! The steel that takes the 
keenest edge must be held closest to the stone. 
The hardest wood makes by long attrition the 
most polished shaft. God uses keen and polished 
weapons. The brightest martyrs come through 
the whitest flames. 

Would we, therefore, escape from the depths? 
Let us trust Christ at once, wholly, and at all 
times. Let us ever walk sofcly and humbly. Let 
us give up ourselves entirely to his will, and find 
all our life in living by him, v/ith him, for him, 
and to him. 

Be not, my fellow sinners, cast into despair, 
because you are in such depths. Say not to your- 
4 



38 THE penitent's 

self, tliat tliere never was so vile a sinner saved. 
You are, indeed, vile, and guilty, and corrupt. 
But out of the miry 2:nlfs in wliicli vou now struo-- 
gle, God lias raised up every ransomed saint now 
in glory, and every zealous believer upon earth. 
David, and Peter, and Paul, and Mary Magdalene, 
all those w^hose names are sweetest to us in the 
Book of our Comfort, were once in this miry 
pit. Yet tliey cried, and the Lord heard them, 
and set their teet upon a rock, and put a new song 
into their mouths, even salvation unto God. 

These distresses are the evidences of God's pity 
and readiness to save. The hardened sinner from 
whom the Gospel is hidden, that he may perish in 
his iniquity, knows them not. His ears a,re heavy, 
he cannot hear ; his eyes are blinded, he cannot 
■see ; his heart is fat, he cannot feel. He is at ease. 
He says in his heart, I shall never be moved. But 
it is because God has opened your ears, that you 
hear the terrible thunderings of the law ; because 
he has opened your eyes, that you see the dark- 
ness and desolation of ybur natural state ; because 



NATURAL CONDITION. 39 

lie has given you a lieart to iinderstaiid, tliat you 
feel yourself sinking in deep waters. Even now 
when you cry unto him, you have proof that you 
are not utterly submerged. You are not without 
hope, else you vrould not cry, O sorrovvful soul, 
these sorroY/s are God's purposes. He strips you 
to poverty, and overwhelms you with distress, 
that you inay come from the far country, think 
of 3^our Father's house, and return to his love. 
Think not yourself forsaken because you are cast 
down. Kemember there was One who plunged 
himself in deeper depths of agony that he might 
be mighty to save. Are you sick ? he is an 
Almighty Physician. Are you guilty ? his atone- 
ment is infinite. Are you lost ? such he came to 
save. 

I^either faint, doubting one, because you are 
in darkness and see no light, or because in your 
afflictions all God's waves and billows seem to 
have gone over you. There has been a ^* needs 
be'' for the manifold trials through which you are 
in bitterness (1 Peter i. 6). Only return unto 



40 THE penitent's NATURAL CONDITION. 

the Lord. Seize tlie merciful promise stretched 
out for your help. Call upon God from the 
depths. The depths of his love are deeper still. 
Call aloud in faith, and the cry shall reach his 
ears. AYhere the prayer of faith is, God is. He 
lieard Jonah from the bottom of the sea. When 
Peter was sinking in the waves. He lifted him up. 
Nay, there is not a saint of his He has not raised 
from death itself. 

There is no hope in the Scriptures for those 
who have no sense of sin. Their hardness only 
argues their impiety, their atheistical doubts of 
God's purity and justice, their rejection of Christ, 
and their desertion by the Spirit. Christ came to 
save sinners, those who feel themselves sinners ; 
the lost, those who feel themselves lost. All his 
saints of old, all his true people have confessed 
themselves sinners, sinners altogether, except as 
they are sanctified by grace. None ever reached 
heaven, Avho did not begin in the depths to strug- 
gle on to life. 



III. 

THE HELPER OF THE PEMTEl^^T, GOD. 



The Apostle speaking to the Corintliians of 
their distress on account of those sins for which 
he had rebuked them in his first epistle, says : " I 
rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye 
sorrowed to repentance ; for ye vv ere made sorry 
after a godly manner, {original^ according to 
God), that ye might receive damage by us in no- 
thing. For godly sorro\v, (i. e. according to God), 
worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented 
of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 
For, behold, this self same thing, that ye sor- 
rowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it 

4* ^ 41 



42 THE HELPER OF 

wrouglit in you, yea, wliat clearing of yourselves, 
yea, wliat indignation, yea, wliat fear, yea, what 
vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what re- 
venge" (2 Cor. vii. 9, 10, 11). Here the doctrine 
is most clearly laid down, that repentance avails 
for the conversion and salvation of the sinner, 
only so far as it is godly, or according to God. 
If our repentance be excited and maintained by 
motives derived from the character of God and 
our responsibility to him, it is genuine, and will 
produce fruit in the careful reformation of our 
hearts and lives ; but, if, on the contrary, it has 
been occasioned by such considerations as the 
world presents, it is in itself sinful, and can never 
produce holy results. Sin consists in a departure 
from God, a forgetfulness of God, or, when the 
thought of God is forced upon the soul, an 
enmity against God. The impenitent man rules 
his conduct by his own selfish inclinations, the 
opinions of men, the rewards or the penalties 
which the world proposes. He may think that he 
believes in God, and consider the assertion that 



THE PENITENT, GOD. 43 

lie does not, an insult to liis moral sense. But it 
is nevertlieless true, tliat tlie God of the Bible has 
no paramount control over his heart and purposes, 
neither does he make God's law, because it is 
God's law, the sole rule of his life. He does not 
know the nature, the extent, or the guilt of his 
sins, because he will not consider the character of 
that Being against whom he has offended. There- 
fore, the Holy Ghost, as we have already seen, 
brings powerfully and convincingly before his 
soul the holy attributes of God, by his law, his 
Gospel, and his judgments. Tlie sinner now sees, 
that his great sin, the root of all his errors and 
his faults, is ungodliness ; and that the great guilt 
of his sin arises from his disobedience to God, 
whose authority over him is so rightful and abso- 
lute, whose laws ordained for him are so holy and 
so just, whose goodness towards him is so tender 
and infinite. 

Hence the true penitent, as in our psalm, makes 
confession of his sins unto God, acknowledges his 
guilt unto God, and cries out from the depth of 



44 THE HELPER OF 

Ills distresses unto God. Those, who have no per- 
sonal experience of it, wonder, and often scoff at 
the deep anguish of the penitent. So different is 
his estimation of sin and of his o^vn sinfidiiess 
Irom theirs, that they consider him under a mehm- 
choly delusion. They can discern nothing in lii • 
conduct which should excite such bitter self-crimi- 
nation, such av/ful apprehensions of Divine wrath. 
But could they so? God as the sinner, whose eves 
have been opened, s^jcs Him, as they will see 
Him in eternity and at the judgment, they would 
wonder and scoff no more ; they also v^'culd trem- 
ble before the majesty of the Holy One, and 
abhor themselves as impious, and base, and un- 
grateful. The power of the Holy Spirit brings 
God so nigh, and renders conscience so quick and 
intelligent, that the penitent's soul stands naked 
and abashed before God as though the judgmei:.: 
hour were already come. He is thus slmt vi^ 
unto God. Nothino' is between him and God. 
Novrhere can lie escape from God. 

Xone, therefore, but God can be the helper of 



THE PENITENT, GOD. 45 

tlie penitent. God only can understand liis dis- 
tresses, lie cannot reveal them to any creature. 
Language cannot express tliem. No finite mind 
could compreliend them. There are even natural 
griefs whose bitterness none can knovi^ but the 
sufferer, and in which we feel the utter insufficien- 
cy of any human sympathy; agonies with which 
we must wrestle in silence ; inward condemnations 
which we would not, if we could, confide to any 
mortal ear. But there is no grief like that of the 
soul mourning for sin, no agony like that pro- 
duced by a sense of God's displeasure, no self- 
condemnation like that the sinner pronounces upon 
his soul, when he sees and feels the force of the 
Divine law. It is this grief, this agony, this self- 
condemnation, unmitigated by mercy, that make 
the hell of the lost. God does understand them. 
His holy eye pierces into the depths of conscience. 
He who made the conscience, and now compels its 
distress, must understand its anguish. 

The penitent does not make confession unto 
God as though God did not already know all that 



43 THE HELPER OF 

lie is, aPxd all tliat lie suffers. It is the convictio)! 
tliat God does kiio%y, yes, that he knows him far 
better than he huovv^s himself, which makes him 
cry out in his discovered shame and helplessness. 
If there can yet he any help, it must com p. from 
God, for he alone, who knows the extremity, can 
apply the cure. It is vain to offer a soul in such a 
case any creature as a mediator or advocate he- 
tvreen him and God. Yv^ere that creature never 
so good, never so holy, never so high, he could 
not understand the distresses for which he would 
ask relief, nor apply any balm to the inner wounds 
of the heart. God must help, or the sin-burdened 
soul must perish in the depths. 

God alone can pardon his sins. It is against 
God that they have been committed. It is God's 
law he has broken. It is God's authority he has 
despised. It is God's just wuTith he has incurred, 
and which presses on his soul. He may be con- 
scious of having offended his fellow men, but he 
mourns such offences most, because God, the Father 
of men, had forbidden them. Were the entire 



THE PENITENT, GOD. 47 

world to pronounce liis forgiveness, it would not 
relieve his soul from the weight of God's dis- 
pleasure, nor silence tlie accusing law of God, nor 
.discharge him from its penalty. No excuses avail 
Yvdtli his conscience ; conscience appeals from them 
to the decision of God. 'No promises of future 
amendment comfort him; the future cannot destroy 
the past. Neither can he hope that God will ac- 
cept as a servant, such a guilty sinner as he has 
been. Nor, if he might gather hope from a future 
obedience, can he see any strength in himself to 
render it. If there be any hope, it must be in 
God. Except God pardon and remit, he must 
perish. None can take him out of God's hands, 
and if they be the hands of an angry God, he is 
lost inextricably, irretrievably. It is vain to bid 
him think that any creature's merit or sufferings 
can interpose between his soul and God. No finite 
righteousness can cover his demerit, no finite suf- 
fering can expiate his guilt. If there be a way of 
atonement and escape, God must provide it. God 
must satisfy his own justice, or the sinner canfiot 



48 THE HELPER OF 

be pardoned so long as it is writtten, "The soul that 
sinnetli it shall die." God alone can raise him np. 
The penitent sonl craves more than pardon. 
He is sensible of his deep, abiding corruption. 
He has fallen so often, and sunk so low ; he is so 
deep in sin, so powerless against temptation, that 
if left to himself he must sink in the depths. Were 
all his past sins pardoned, he would sink imme- 
diately again into guilt. Besides, he hates his 
sins, not merely because they expose him to the 
punishment of them, but because of their own 
vileness, and ingratitude, and ofPensiyeness to God. 
He desires to serve God with his whole heart, 
and his whole life. jSTothing short of an entire 
holiness can satisfy the longings of his soul, the 
cravings of his conscience, or the love of his 
heart for God ; yes, the love of his heart for God, 
for, guilty as he feels himself to be in God's sight, 
he loves God, loves that very law whose penalties 
he has incurred, loves that very justice which 
pronounces vengeance against the sinner. Yet 
fr<5m these sins he is utterly unable to free him- 



THE PEmTENT, GOD. 49 

self. This holiness he is utterly uBable to attain. 
The more he struggles, the more does he see 
him.self involved, the weaker does he feel himself 
to be. No creature can help him in such ex- 
tremity, for what created arm can sustain the soul 
that cannot sustain itself? God alone, who 
created him, can re-create him. God alone can set 
his feet upon a rock, that he may sink no more. 
The work must be done within him where only 
God's skill can reach, and God's eye see. There- 
fore you hear David crying out not only that he 
has sinned, but that he " was conceived in sin, and 
brought forth in iniquity." Not only does he 
pray to the Lord : " Hide thy face from my sins, 
and blot out all mine iniquities;" but also: '' Create 
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a rio-ht 
spirit within me." Nay, more, that new heart 
and right spirit must be maintained : " Cast me 
not away from thy presence, and take not thy 
Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy 
of thy salvation, and uphold me hj thy free 
Spirit" (Psalm li. 5, 9, 10, 11, 12). 
5 



50 THE HELPER OF 

Who, tlien, but God can be tlie helper of such a 
soul ? "Who but God can understand his sorrows 
and his wants, blot out his iniquities and his sins, 
or make his nature radically new, and holj, and 
strong ? 

Thus our penitent in the psalm keeps his eye 
fixed upon God, and addresses God only. Pious 
critics, fond to discover all they can of the rich- 
ness of Scripture, point out three names of God 
by which the Psalmist addresses him, though the 
poverty of our language renders them all by the 
one title. Lord : Jehovah, Jah, Adonai. . " Out 
of the depths have I cried unto thee, Jehovah." 
" Adonai hear my voice. Let thine ears be atten- 
tive to the voice of my supplications." " If thou, 
Jah, shouldest mark iniquities, O Adonai, who 
shall stand?" Jah is seldom used in Scripture, 
and then seems to denote his terrible holiness and 
majesty : " Sing unto God : sing praises to his 
name. Extol him that rideth upon the heavens 
by his name Jah" (Psalm Ixviii. 4). Before this 
holy and terrible God, who shall stand ? Jehovah 



THE PENITENT, GOD. 51 

is also a name of majesty, but God's peculiar name 
as the God of Israel : " Hear, O Israel, tlie Lord 
(Jeliovah) our God, is one Lord, (Jehovali)" 
(Deut. vi. 4) : and in another place : *' God spake 
unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord 
(Jehovah) ; and I appeared unto Abraham, unto 
Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Al- 
mighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not 
known to them" (Exod. vi. 2, 3). Adonai is best 
rendered Lord, intimating supremacy in rule, but 
it is also used with prophetic reference to the 
Messiah, our blessed and adorable Master Jesus 
Christ : ^'(Jehovah) the Lord said unto my Lord 
(Adonai), Sit thou at my right hand, until I make 
thine enemies thy footstool" (Psalm ex. 1). It 
is, therefore, to God, the God of Israel, God the 
perfect in holiness, God the Messiah promised, 
that the Psalmist cries. Those names had he to 
humble himself before as names by which God 
was known. "Were God known to him only as the 
Lord of holiness, how would he have dared to 
look up and cry ? But God was the covenant God 



52 THE HELPER OF 

of Israel, God had promised tlie Adonai, tlie hope 
of Israel, and to Jehovah, and Jehovah- Adonai, as 
well as to Jah-Jehovah, does he call. Here, then, 
is a glimpse of hope, the hope of mercy in the 
verv name of the God whose Y>rath he fears. In- 
deed, had he not proof of his not being utterly 
abandoned of God, in the fact that he was not 
utterly overvrhelmed, that his head was still above 
the VN'aters, that he had strength enough to cry left 
him ? A drowned man cannot cry, but one well 
nigh drowning may cr}^ lustily for help. A dead 
man has no voice, his crying is an evidence that 
he yet lives. Yet he could only live and have 
strength to cry by God's persevering mercy. The 
very sense of his depths, is a proof that God yet 
pities, the cry contains an earnest that it shall be 
heard. 

From all this we m-ay see, 

That true repentance is a transaction between 
the soul and God. The sinner truly awakened to 
a sense of his sin and guilt, and corruption, vrill 
not, cannot seek repose except in God. He may 



THE PENITENT, GOD. 53 

ask advice from God's people, lie may be glad to 
have their prayers, but he stays not witli them, 
neither rehes upon them. If he stay away from 
God, he must perish. He can but perish if he go 
to him. It is God only that can read his heart. 
It is God only against w^hom he has sinned, and 
who can pardon him. It is God only that can . 
renew the nature, wdiich he once made perfect, but 
which has now fallen into such depths of corrup- 
tion. No help less than almighty can reach his 
case. Therefore he goes at once unto God, cries 
unto God, looks unto God. The repentance Vvdiich 
drives us not unto God, is "a worldly sorrow, a 
repentance that needeth to be repented of" There 
is no true sense of sin, of guilt and corruption in 
such a soul. But there is hope in such a repent- 
ance as drives us to Him, because none but He 
could aw^aken it in us. It is He who rouses us 
from a sinfal nature's slumber, calling us to arise 
from the death of trespasses and sins, that he may 
give us life. 

There is in true repentance a desire to return 
5^ 



54 THE HELPER OF 

unto God and his service. The Spirit that con- 
vinceth of sin is the Holy Spirit that convince.'^ 
of righteousness. No sinner is made to hate sin 
Avithout at the same time desirino- hohness. N^o 
sinner is made to feel the misery of departure 
from God, without a desire to return to God. Xo 
sinner ever acquiesced in the justice of God's 
anger vvithout desiring God's love. Except we 
have this desire of returnino* unto God, of enterino- 
his service, and of enjoying his love, vre may hate 
the punishment, but we do not hate sin. There is, 
indeed, no repentance at all, but only a slavish 
fear, or an unfruitful remorse. When, however, 
that longing for God, for strength to do his will, 
and for a heart to enjoy his love, is felt within us, 
it is the pulsation of a new and Divine life, which 
none could inspire but God himself. It is the 
earnest of a perfect redemption, for He, who is the 
Alpha Vrull be the Omega, the Finisher as well as 
the Author. 

There is, thus, always in true repentance some 
perception and hope of the Divine mercy. The 



THE PENITENT, GOD. 55 

very names by wliicli God reveals liimself unto iis, 
the very law wliicli condemns us, " in the hand of 
a Mediator" (Gal. iii. 19) ; and above all, the 
cross of Christ, which more than all convinces us 
of sin, give evidence of mercy even to those in 
" the depths." When we have in the Gospel the 
three names of the blessed Trinity, the Fatlier 
who gave his Son, the Son v/ho gave his life for 
sinners, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the 
Father and the Son, we cannot truly look unto 
God and not know him as the God of mercy, of 
pardon, and redemption. The sinner, occupied 
and overwhelmed by his sins, may but faintly dis- 
cern this cheering light ; yet even in his depths 
he feels that he is upheld by some strong arm. 
Let him look up and he shall see Jesus. Even 
now Jesus-Adonai, Jehovah our Eighteousness, 
is calling to him, as the Master did to Mary, when 
in the garden she was bowed dovfn, and blinded 
by her tears. No, sin-stricken soul, all despairing 
as you say that you are, you would not give up the 
trembling hope you have in Christ for a thousand 



56 THE HELPER OF 

worlds. If yon did not liope, yon vvonld be in nt- 
ter darkness. 0, tlien, cast yourself wholly upon 
God. Prove Ms mercy fully. Lay hold, strongly 
as a drowning man, upon tlie hand Christ stretches 
out, and he will dravf you forth, and set your feet 
upon a rock. 

But how vain are their dreams of salvation, 
who will not even think upon God ? AMio shut 
him out of their thoughts ? "WTio will not allow 
themselves to be alone with him and with their 
own conscience ? Who will not for themselves 
search the Scriptures, vrhere only can be found the 
word of eternal life ? How can they expect the 
mercy of God to find them in the gay world, the 
busy marts of trade, the haunts and pursuits of 
worldly men? Xo, let them, if they would not 
perish for ever in that death, which they cannot 
choose at times but fear, " go to their closets, and 
shut to the door, and pray to their Father who 
seeth in secret." They may go to church, and 
talk with pious people, but until they seek to be 



THE PENITENT, GOD. 57 

alone with God, there is little hope of their re- 
pentance. 

It is only when alone with God, that we are 
honest to ourselves. The vrorld is full of de- 
lusions. The excitement around us renders us 
more or less insane. Then we compare our- 
selves with other men, and flatter ourselves that 
we are not so bad, because, not worse, perhaps 
better than they. But in the closet, we are in 
contrast with God, the holy law applies its stern 
test to our lives, we anticipate the judgment ; and 
in our terror and agony of shame, we cast our- 
selves upon the Saviour to hide our faces on his 
bosom, clinging close to his protecting arms and 
pitying heart. There is little hope of the sinner 
who is unwilling to seek God in secret, and escapes 
from his convictions to the cares or the pleasures 
of life; but the moment he desires the solitude 
where God is, he is well-nigh sure to find him and 
rejoice in the assurance of his love. God loves 
the low, whispering, sobbing petitions v/liich are 
meant for his ear alone, and he will answer in a 



58 THE HELPER OF 

" still small voice," the soul that so speaks to 
him. 

The Christian should remember, also, that grace 
can be increased only by frequent resort to the 
secret place, where grace was first sought and 
found. We cannot maintain a sense of the 
Divine presence, except we often shut out every 
thing which comes between us and God. We 
must seek Him in our closets, if we would per- 
suade Him to walk v/ith us in the outer world. 
Prayer, itself, is an abstraction from the visible 
and the present, to commune vrith the invisible 
and the eternal. He only, who lives much in his 
closet, has much intercourse v/ith his God, or 
*^ conversation in heaven." But the advantages 
of the closet cease not when we leave it. As the 
face of Moses shone after he had reached the plain, 
so will our thoughts retain, for a time at least, the 
glow of Divine beauty which they received from 
the Divine glory ; and, as it fades, we must hasten 
back to illumine them again. Wherefore David 
says : " Thou art my habitation Avhereunto I will 



THE PENITENT, GOD. 59 

continually resort" (Psalm Ixxi. 3). He looked 
upon tlie communion of God as tlie liome of his 
soul. In tlie world lie was like a pilgrim ; wlien 
with God lie was anticipating liis eternal rest. He 
might go forth on his necessary occasions ; but 
soon to return for food, for rest, for safety, for 
quiet, for that enjoyment which " a stranger inter- 
meddleth not with." As his need was continually 
recurring, so he continually resorted to the source 
of its supply. 



IV. 



THE PRAYER OF THE PEIITENT. 



"When in distress and danger, nature prompts us 
to call for help, and to entreat it from any able to 
relieve us ; therefore, the sinner, who has been 
made to know the depths of his sin, his guiltiness 
and corruption, calls unto God, who alone can un- 
derstand his wants, pardon his sins, and raise him 
up to new life. 

" Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, 
Lord. Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be 
attentive to the voice of my supplications." 

This crying of the sinner unto God is, in itself, a 
gracious sign. It proves that his eyes have been 
6 61 



62 TPIE PRAYER OF 

opened to Lis true condition ; tliat he no longer 
dreams of liope from his own or any creature's 
merits, but humbles himself in submissive depend- 
ence before the majestic holiness of God. For the 
careless soul, having no thought of its guilt and 
danger, never prays ; the self-righteous soul, like 
the pharisee in the parable, busies itself with pre- 
paring some offering of good works, that it may 
come unto God with thanks for having become 
better, rather than vvith prayers for grace to be 
made so ; and the idolatrous or superstitious are 
fain to rely upon the prayers of others, or the vir- 
tue of some outward ceremony. We must be 
disabused of all such folly, before we can pray 
unto God as our only helper. So, when v/e are 
convinced that all our help is in God, prayers unto 
him for mercy will take the place of every thing 
else. There is an end of all cavilling and disput- 
ing about the way of salvation, and of all attempts 
to escape from our convictions into sinful skepti- 
cism, or diverting pleasures, or mere forms of 
religion which stupify or amuse, but cannot cleanse 



THE PENITENT. 63 

tlie conscience. The soul sees only God and itself, 
and cries unto him heartily from the depths. " Be- 
hold he prayeth !" was the evidence which the 
Holy Ghost gave that Saul of Tarsus had become 
a penitent, A dead man cannot cry for help. 
Neither can a soul utterly dead in trespasses and 
sins, pray. 

The prayer of a sinner will be earnest^ in pro- 
portion to his sense of need. One who believes 
himself to be drowning in deep waters, will cry 
for help with agonies of strength ; while another, 
who thinks his danger not so imminent, v/ill rather 
be occupied v/ith endeavours to extricate himself. 
The soul, awakened by the Spirit of God, allows 
of nothing in comparison with eternal safety. 
" What shall I be profited," is its question, 
" though I should gain the whole world and am 
lost at last ?" Life, with all its pleasures, riches 
and honours, is but a trifle, an hour, a morning 
dream, compared with eternity ; b^t ^o come short 
of heaven, to lie down in everlasting burnings, to 
spend eternity without God's love, and undei 



64 THE PRAYER OF 

God's Tvratli, that is horror unutterable, a fear 
wliicli swallows up all other fear, a dread w^hich 
blackens all seeming joy. This danger is immi- 
nent, present, extreme. The impenitent soul, if 
he think of damnation at all, puts it after death 
in the far and undefined future. The penitent 
feels, as it were, the wrath of God already abiding 
upon him. Eternity is begun with him in time, 
except as life here is the only season for securing 
the life everlasting. Nay, life is so uncertain, 
death so near at any moment, that he dares not 
postpone the repentance which can be exercised 
only here and now. He is condemned already, 
and it is a deep sense of actual, present condemna- 
tion, that makes him pray with an earnestness 
which he can have in nothing else. 

This sense of the wrath of God is the more dis- 
tressing, because he desires the love of God above 
all things. He adores God, he loves the excellence 
of his character, his laws, and his grace. The 
smiles of one so infinitely good and pure, are to 
him the perfection of happiness. Though God 



THE PENITENT. 65 

were to give him all tilings else, if lie slionld yet 
withhold his love, the penitent would be miserable. 
His soul thirsts for God, for the living God. As 
the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so pants 
he after God. He can be satisfied with nothing 
less than God (Psalm xlii. 1, 2 ; xvii. 15). 

For the same reason he hates his sins and his 
corruption, which deprive him of this Divine 
favour. He longs to be delivered from them ; to 
have the assurance that his iniquity is pardoned 
(Isaiah xl. 2), and that the work of his sanctifica- 
tion is begun. He eagerly desires strength, which 
he has not in himself, to enter upon the Divine 
service, which he loves for its own sake, for the 
safety that is in it, and for the rewards that follow 
it through grace. He is in love with holiness, 
because he loves God. 

Therefore is his prayer earnest. All he fears, 
all he hopes for, all he hates, all he loves, his 
whole heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, are 
in his prayers. Hence the Psalmist says he cries. 
It is the loud, sharp, quick cry of anguish, terror, 
6'^ 



66 THE PRAYER OF 

and extreme need. It is not the composed, formal 
address, whicli mere decormn or form presents, 
sucli as Ms wlio tlianked God, in well set terms, 
that he vfas not as other men ; but a groan, an ex- 
clamation, an intense bm'st of feeling, not studious 
of words but truth, as the publican's : " Lord, have 
mercy upon me, a sinner !" As his grief increases, 
his earnestness increases ; and as his temptations 
press, and his sense of danger is more vivid, his 
ardour burns the more. He must have pardon, he 
must have cleansing, he must have strength, he 
must have God, or die. Prayer is his last, his only 
means of hope. Therefore, he prays with all the 
strength that he can. There is a low, sweet whis- 
per, (dMlce susurruiii) of prayer, in which the pious 
soul, full of confidence, breathes out its love to God, 
as into the ear of the best, nearest friend; and 
there is the full, long oration of praise, reverence 
and admiring delight, in which the spirit, rapt 
with religious joy, worships like the aUgels before 
the throne ; but the penitent has not reached this 
holy calmness, this lofty joy, this deep intelligence. 



THE PENITENT. 67 

His prayer is crying, and groaning, and tears, and 
anguish. It is tlie cry of tlie perishing, of the well- 
nigh lost. 

The prayer of such a soul will be persevering. 
If his heart be set upon obtaining mercy, he will 
not cease crying until he obtains it. There is 
nothing he cares for but mercy, and, therefore, 
nothing can interrupt his praying, nothing can 
draw him, much less keep him, away from the feet 
of God. Prayer is his business, his only work, his 
whole occupation. 

In God alone is his help. To go away from 
God, to cea,se praying unto God, is to give himself 
up in despair, to part with heaven and to sink in 
the depths to hell. Where can he go for eternal 
life, if he go away from Jesus ? Therefore, he 
remains at the throne of grace, as a suppliant ; he 
clasps the knees of God ; he clings to his last hope ; 
nor will he loosen his hold until God gives him 
pardon, or drives him away to everlasting death. 
There are many, who fancy that they have sought 
for salvation because they have put up a few sup- 



68 • THE PRAYER OF 

plications, spent one or two anxious hours, studied 
their Bibles for a little while, or attended some 
religious meetings in hope of comfort ; but because 
they have not at once, or in a few days found the 
peace of religion, they give over, saying, " It is of 
no use, our efforts are fruitless ;" and turn again to 
carelessness and sleep. Yet how did they pray ? 
Was it with the intensity of those to whom religion 
was all ? Was it not only in the occasional leisure 
from worldly pleasures and cares ? Was it not as 
one uses a chaiTu, or a form, rather than with a 
hearty earnestness ? Was it not with an impa- 
tience to get through a painful work necessary to 
escape from danger, that they might be free to go 
bach to their cares or their enjoyments? Ah ! if 
they had been truly bent upon salvation, truly 
solicitous to escape from sin and to be renewed 
unto God, truly determined to be Christians at the 
sacrifice of all besides, they vroukl never have given 
over praying, seeking, searching for salvation. It 
was because they did not give their hearts to 
prayer, that God did not hear them. He is in- 



THE PENITENT. 6^ 

suited, not appeased, by such partial seeking. He 
must have the whole heart, or he will have none 
of it. He saw that the idols they had loved were 
still enshrined in their affections, and, therefore, he 
refused to enter and fill them with his love and 
presence. 

Not so the true penitent. His desire for God is 
like a thirst, that grows the more painful until 
satisfied with the water of life. He goes over his 
petitions over and over again. He uses every 
variety of argument. He reviews his prayers and 
searches his heart to see, whether he has not been 
praying amiss, or in a wrong spirit. He endeavours 
to amend his prayers. He prays God to amend 
them, to teach him how to pray, to give him 
honesty and intensity of desire. He prays often, 
seven times a day, all the day, all the night, 
without ceasing. He will pray all his life, in the 
hope of getting mercy, if it be but at the moment 
before he dies ; because until he gets mercy, he is 
miserable from a sense of sin, hopeless from a 



70 THE PRAYER OF 

sense of guilt, and utterly witliout strength to do 
God's will. 

Sucli importunity, so far from being offensive 
to God, is a most gracious sign of his own work 
in the sinner's heart. Our Lord in the parable of 
the poor widow and the unjust judge, teaches us 
that they are God's elect, ^Syho cry unto him both 
day and night," though often for wise reasons he 
withholds the blessing for a time. "He spake 
the parable to the end that men ought always to 
pray and not faint" (Luke xviii. 1, 1). You see 
the same thing in the actual history of the Syro- 
Phenician woman, who came to our Lord entreat- 
ing him to cure her daughter. At first Jesus 
appeared not to hear her, but she continued to 
cry, "Lord, help me!" Then he told her that it 
was not "meet to take the children's bread and 
cast it to dogs ;" as if she were a dog in compari- 
son with the more favoured children of Israel. 
Yet even this severe rebuff does not silence her 
prayers. She knows that unless the Master help, 
her daughter must perish, and she is willing to 



THE PENITENT. 71 

receive mercy, even as a dog : " Trutli, Lord, yet 
the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their 
master's table." Had she not persevered, she 
would never have received the blessing ; but hear 
what the Master thought of her importunity: 
* 'Jesus said unto her, woman, great is thy 
faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt" (Matt. 
XV. 22-28). None other than the Spirit of 
God, the "earnest of our inheritance," teaches a 
sinner thus to pray. 

So the penitent in our psalm. How he repeats 
and varies his prayer: "Out of the depths 
have I cried unto thee, Lord ! Lord, hear my 
voice ! Let thine ear be attentive to the voice of 
my supplications !" Lie has prayed, but he does 
not give over.' He will pray again. Nay, with 
an earnest boldness, yet deep reverence, he insists 
upon being heard ; he is determined that Jehovah, 
the Lord, should pay attention to the voice of his 
supplications. God loves such praying. It shows 
that the sinner is in earnest ; that he values sal 



72 THE PRAYER OF 

vation above every thing, and that Ms hope is in 
God alone. 

Such prayers must be expecting. Were there 
no expectation of help, there would be no prayer. 
The devils, though they believe .in God, do not 
pray. Lost souls in hell do not pray. They 
have no hope ; and the language of their despair 
is complaint and accusation of God, and blasphe- 
my, and curses. So it is with a sinner when he 
feels only his danger and sees only his ruin. It 
is in vain that you urge a sinner in such extremi- 
ty to pray. He tells you he cannot. He cannot 
assent to the justice of God that condemns him, 
to the wrath of God that consumes him, to the 
law of God that witnesses against him. His soul 
is full of despair and blasphemy. He dare not 
look up to God. He would fain escape from 
God altogether. 

But when he hears of mercy, of Christ's atone- 
ment, intercession and power, though yet he can- 
not v/holly trust the promise, he begins to pray. 
Faith is not yet manifest in him, but it is already 



THE PENITENT. 73 

working under Jbis fears and terrors, for lie says : 
^' Since there is mercy with God, he may save 
even me, therefore I will pray; since there are 
merit and advocacy, and pov/er with Christ, he 
may perchance apply his grace to my soul, there- 
fore I will pray ; since God has commanded me 
to pray, the very command contains a promise, 
that if I pray aright I shall be heard." If he 
pray, it is to God the Hearer of prayer, and 
through Christ, the Mediator and Intercessor. 
The very longing for mercy includes some expec- 
tation of mercy. His perseverance in praying 
shows some hope that yet, if not now, his prayer 
may be heard. 

He cannot look to God, or make use of the 
names of God, or enquire after examples of prayer, 
without having some intimations of God's pity for 
the sinner, of his mightiness to save, of the fact 
til at he has saved and does save sinners, and may 
save him. 

God would never have put this spirit of prayer- 
into his heart, or the words of prayer into his^ 

7 . 



74 THE PRAYER OF ^ 

moutli, or set Clirist before Mm as an intercessor, 
only to mock a soul about to perish. 

His only anxiety now is, tliat lie may pray 
aright, with sufficient earnestness for repentance 
and faith: "0 that I might find him! that I 
could belieye ! that I might see him and come 
to him, and lay hold of his strength !" Therefore, 
he prays on, in the hope that while attempting to 
pray, he may learn to pray indeed. His soul is on 
the watch, as he says in another yerse, "more 
than they that y/atcli for the morning." It may 
be dark now, darker than eyer, it is darkest before 
day, but the day ydll come, though it seem long 
first. Tlie shootings of the dawn, the pale light 
along the eastern horizon, shall yet herald the 
rising of the Sun of Righteousness. This is more 
than desire. It is expectation, that grows into 
hope, and will be consummated in faith. 

Whenever, therefore, the penitent heartily re- 
solves to pray until the blessing comes, there is a 
beginning of trust, that the blessing will come. 
Despair is past, and the soul is ready for the 



THE PENITENT. 75 

avowal and petition : " Lord, I believe, lielp tliou 
mine unbelief" (Mark ix. 24). Sucb a petition 
was never put up in vain. 

Let, then, every penitent soul find comfort in 
prayer. Not because there is any merit in prayer, 
or that by prayer we can do any thing efficiently 
to gain God's favour; for our very prayers are 
mingled with sin, and there is no merit in any 
thing we can do ; but because prayer is the effect 
of the Holy Spirit's power. It is the Spirit of 
adoption, within us ; God's gracious messenger 
sent to open the heart and prepare it for his own 
indwelling. 

Let us, however, be sure that Ave do indeed 
pray. "Words are not prayer, posture is not pray- 
er ; it must come from the heart, from the depths 
of the heart, from a heart bent upon salvation, a 
heart that will not give over praying, that cannot 
be denied; and above all, a heart resting upon 
Christ's merit, God's promise and the Spirit's help. 

Ceasing to pray is a most fatal sign. It is the 
evidence of death, the certainty of unbelief, the 



76 THE PRAYER OF 

silence of a soul abandoning God, and abandoned 
by him. There is little hope of such an one ever 
beinar awakened ao;ain. He has been so far en- 
lightened as to perceive his danger ; has felt the 
inward workings of constraining grace ; has been 
convinced of his desperate need; has looked 
longingly towards heaven, and trembled at the 
thought of hell ; but, notwithstanding all this light 
and grace, and conviction, he has suffered himself 
to be drawn away by the temptations of the world, 
the backward drawing of his unbelieving heart, 
and the delusions of the tempter, from the only 
refuge of his soul, the only means of attaining 
safety. What arguments can be used with him, 
that he has not heard and resisted ? What new 
knowledge can be imparted to him more convinc- 
ing than that he has abused? It may be that 
God will rouse him again, but it is nowhere pro- 
mised that he will ; on the contrary, the tenor of 
Scripture threatens, that the Spirit thus quenched 
and despised, will leave the sinner alone to perish 
in his p'uilt. 



THE PENITENT. 77 

The true penitent prays on to the end. If lie 
be not heard, lie prays on in the hope of being 
heard. If heard, he prays on in hope of greater 
blessings. Tlie more he prays, the more he loves 
to pray; every answer to his prayer excites within 
liim a more earnest desire. The more his sins 
press on his conscience, the more he cries for par- 
don ; the more he sees of his weakness and the 
extent of the Divine love, the more he cries for 
strength; the more he converses with God his 
Father through his sympathizing Mediator, the 
more reverently bold he grows. He becomes 
skilled in petition, appropriates more confidently 
the Divine promises, and longs the more for the 
blessedness of beholding God's unveiled face in 
glory. He learns by sweet experience, that prayer 
is the ever availing, only availing cure for sin, 
doubt, sorrow and fear. 

— Lord, teach us to pray. Shed abroad in our 
hearts the spirit of adoption, even the Spirit of thy 
Son, that like him we may pray without doubt, 
weariness or cessation, until like him Yie enter 

7^ 



78 THE PRAYER OF THE PENITENT. 

into the joy set before us, and are satisfied witli 
tliy likeness perfect in our souls. Thy saints 
cease to pray in heaven, only because having all, 
there is nothing left to pray for, and the unceasing 
shining forth of thy Divine glory absorbs all their 
faculties in adoration. Thy Church on earth is i 
house of prayer, thy Church above, the house of 
praise eternal ! 



THE CONVICTION OF THE PENITENT. 



" If thou, Lord, sliouldest mark' iniquities, O 
Lord, wlio shall stand ?" 

The penitent from out of the depths of his sin, 
his guiltiness, and his corruption, being convinced 
that God alone can help him, because God alone 
can understand his distressing necessities, pardon 
his sins, and restore his soul unto a new life, calls 
unto God with great earnestness, importunate per- 
severance, and not without expectation of a gra- 
cious answer. 

The third and fourth verses of our psalm show 
us the substance of a true penitent's address unto 
God. 



80 THE CONVICTION OF 

A confessing of utter iinwortliiness in God's 
siolit : 

" If tlioii^ Lord, shoiildest mark iniquities, O 
Lord, wlio sliall stand ?" 

A pleading for mercy, founded upon the revela- 
tions of forgiveness^ wliicli God lias made : 

'' But tliere is forgiveness witli tliee, tliat tliou 
mayest be feared.'' 

Yv"e are now to consider tlie first. 

The penitent confesses Ms utter unwortliiness in 
the sight of God. 

It has here the form of a question, that being a 
strong natural form of assertion well suited to the 
speaker's intensity of feeling, and his deep rever- 
ence of the Holy Being to whom he speaks. In 
amazement at the pure holiness of God, he asks : 
" Who shall stand V and he refers the question to 
God the only judge. 

It is, besides, difficult to give in another lan- 
guage the exact shade of meaning in the original 
which is rendered, " mark iniquities." God does, 
as his Word every where declares, mark the ini- 



THE PENITENT. 81 

quities of men. He looks " down from heaven 
upon the children of men, to see if there be any 
that understand, that seek God" (Psalm liii. 2). 
The Psalmist says also : "0 Lord, thou hast 
searched me and known me" .... thou ^' art ac- 
quainted with all my ways. For there is not a 
word in my tongue, but lo, Lord, thou knowest 
it altogether" (Psalm cxxxix. 1, 3, 4). The 
Saviour declares, that " every idle word that men 
shall speak they shall give an account thereof in 
the day of judgment" (Matt. xii. 36) ; and the 
apostle : " we must all appear before the judgment 
seat of Christ, that every one may receive the 
things done in his body, according to that he hath 
done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor. v. 10). 
In the Revelation we are expressly told that in the 
vision of judgment, " the books were opened, and 
another book was opened which is the book of life, 
and the dead were judged out of those things 
which were written in the books according to their 
works" (Rev. xx. 12). Thus, the omniscient hoh- 
ness of God does mark, and, as it were, make an 



82 THE CONVICTION OF 

account of all our iniquities. It Tvould be an im- 
pious an cV blasphemous error to suppose tbat He, 
^yllo says, lie '' will by no means clear tlie guilty,'' 
would overlook any sin committed against liis pure 
and sovereign autliority. The Psalmist, therefore, 
must mean bringing into strict judgment, and exe- 
cuting vengeance upon, all those who commit ini- 
quities ; as if he said : " If thou, Lord, shouldest" 
deal with us after our sins, or reward us according 
to our iniquities, " O Lord, who shall stand ?" 

He is convinced of his utter unworthiness by 
considering 

The Judo'c vrho tries — God. 

o 

" If thou^ Lord, shouldest mark iniquities." 

And those who are tried : Men, all men, the best 
men as well as the worst. 

" Who shall stand ?" 

God is the Judge by whom he is tried. The 
sovereign God, his Great oi> his Preserver, who has 
a right to all his love, his reverence and his service ; 
whom it should be his delight and grateful choice 
to honour with all his powers, as his supreme and 



THE PENITENT. 83 

' only Master ; lie it is who requires of liim an ac- 
count of all his life, his tliouglits, and words, and 
deeds ; all Ms time, and talents and energies. If, 
therefore, he has come short in any of all these, 
how shall he stand ? 

It is the holy and the pure God, whose com- 
mandments are exceeding broad, and wdio will not 
tolerate even the shadow of evil. Who can abide 
his rigid and unyielding and undeviating justice ? 

It is the omniscient God, whose eye we can 
never elude ; who searches even the thoughts and 
intents of the heart (Heb. iv. 12, 13) ; who cannot 
be deceived, and from whom nothing can be hid- 
den ; so that our whole lives and characters must 
be certainly and accurately known. Who can 
endure such a scrutiny ? 

It is the omnipotent God, whose will is every 
where active and every w^here irresistible ; to 
whom all beings, and all things, and all events are 
subject ; and, therefore, from whose wrathful sen- 
tence there is no escape. When the Almighty 
rouses himself to anger and launches the thunder- 



84 THE CONVICTION OF 

bolts of his vengeance against sin, who among all 
liis guilty creatures can stand ? 

It is tlie eternal God, who remains ever the 
same, and who ever lives to execute the fierceness 
of his wrath upon the guilty but immortal soul, 
that must for ever suffer the inexhaustible penalty. 
" Who shall dwell with the devouring fire ? Who 
shall dv/ell with everlasting burnings" (Isa. xxxiii. 
14)? 

Thus the penitent considers himself as in the 
sight of God. It is not of his duties to man that 
he enquires, but of his duties to God (Psalm li. 4) ; 
all his duty to man being comprehended in his 
duty to God. While other men find a false com- 
fort in thinking that they have been faithful, and 
honest, and pure, and temperate, and charitable in 
their relations with men, he brings himself imme- 
diately before God ; and his conscience, enlight- 
ened by the Spirit and tried by the Word, pro- 
nounces him utterly unworthy and guilty before 
God. 

While other men try themselves by the judg- 



THE PENITENT. 85 

ment and practice of the world, and, if they can 
gain the world's approval of their conduct, are satis- 
fied (2 Cor. X. 12) ; he compares himself with God's 
holiness, and God's law, and can find nothing but 
condemnation. 

While other men, notwithstanding all that God 
has said (Psalm Ixxiii. 11), will not believe that he 
is inexorably just, and that he will send the wicked 
away into everlasting punishment (Matt. xxv. 46) ; 
he acknowledges and trembles before the holy ma- 
jesty of him with whom he has to do, and con- 
fesses himself deserving of that endless wrath 
(Psalm li. 3, 4) ; and the consciousness that he 
has of sin, confirms his conviction that God " will 
by no means clear the guilty" (Exod. xxxiv. 7), 
but that his "wrath burns to the lowest hell" 
(Deut. xxxii. 22). 

These are the reasons, why the penitent is with- 
out hope of justification from himself, while many, 
far less pure and correct in their outward conduct 
and inner thoughts, remain with easy consciences, 
careless and, it may be, confident of the future. 



86 THE CONVICTION OF 

This conviction is deepened when lie thinks of 
those who are tried by this sovereign, holy, om- 
niscient, eternal, and inexorable Judge. 

" Who shall stand !" All men shall be brought 
into judgment by God, but who will be able to 
abide in the judgment ? There are gradations in 
the character of men,, some are more wicked than 
others ; but is there, one among all our race that, 
measured by God's law, examined by God's eye, 
and weighed by God's judgment, can stand ? 

What say the Scriptures ? It '' hath concluded 
all under sin" (Gal. iii. 22). All are " by nature 
the children of wrath" (Ephes. ii. 3). All are 
children of fallen Adam, fallen in him (Rom. v. 
12), and dead (by nature) with him (1 Cor. xv. 
22). There is none that, in God's pure sight, 
" doeth good, no not one " (Psalm xiv. 3). 

What say God's best saints ? They all humble 
themselves before God as sinners ; all look for 
salvation only through mercy. The Apostle Paul 
calls himself the chief of sinners, as would all the 



THE PENITENT. 87 

rest, from Abel down to tlie last that shall be born 
unto God on earth. 

Nay, the Gospel of Christ insists, that the last 
vestige of self-righteousness be removed, before 
grace is promised to the soul. "I am not come" 
saith he, "to call the righteous, but sinners to 
repentance;" they "that be whole need not a 
physician, but they that are sick" (Matt. ix. 12, 
13). The very first w^ork of his Spirit is to con- 
vince men of sin (John xvi. 8). Indeed, who 
but a sinner can trust in the Saviour of sinners, 
all whose people must be sinners, because he 
comes "to save his people from their sins" (Matt. 
i. 21)? 

Now, the use which a true penitent makes of 
this great Scripture doctrine, man's universal sin- 
fulness, is not to comfort himself, as the natural 
heart does, because he is only one of a crowd 
of sinners, and perhaps, not so bad as many 
others ; nor to think, that because the depravity 
is so wide-spread, God v/ill not be so inexorable 
as to pour out his wrath upon the race. No ; 



88 THE CONVICTION OF 

lie is convinced that the sins of others will not 
excuse his own, but that he must give an account 
of himself unto God (Eom. xiv. 12) ; and he reads 
in God's word, that "God will brino- everv work 
into judgment" (Eccl. xii, 14); and that ''death 
hath passed upon all men because that all have 
sinned" (Eom. v. 12). He is the more con- 
vinced of his own personal unworthiness, for he 
says in his heart, if patriarchs, and prophets, and 
apostles, and martyrs, cannot stand upon their 
own merit, hov/ can one so guilty and weah as I ? 
If there is no hope for him as a sinner, he can 
have none. 

From this we learn, as has been shown before, 
that there is some hope in the penitent's heart, a 
gleam of light even through this dark cloud of 
universal sin and guilt. 

''If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O 
Lord, who shall stand?" If there be no v.^ay for 
thee, Lord, but to execute vengeance upon the 
sinner, who can be saved? Stephen and all the 
martyrs, Paul and all the apostles, David and all 



THE PENITENT. 89 

the prophets, Moses and all the patriarchs, must 
have gone down to everlasting death. There are 
none, there have been none, there can be none 
saved. God has no people from among men in 
earth or in heaven. The whole race is lost, nay, 
must have been lost from the beginning. But this, 
the penitent knows, is not so. God has been 
honoured and served, and trusted in, by many sin- 
fal but penitent souls, who have found him to be 
gracious and merciful; and who have left on 
record an exhortation for all who are sinners like 
them, to 'Haste and see that the Lord is good." 
There is now in heaven a mighty host of glorified 
souls, once sinners like us, singing hallelujahs to 
the God of mercy and love. Indeed, if God only 
punishes transgressors, wherefore is it that men 
are not now driven from the face of all the earth 
to hell? "Nay," asks the penitent, "how is it 
that I am spared, that God is so long-suffering 
with so great a sinner as I am ? How is it that 
He visits me with so many merciful warnings, 
stirring me up to anxiety for the safety of my 



90 THE CONVICTION OF 

soul, drawing me towards himself, making me 
to love Mm and desire his love ? Surely God 
does not mock with a false hope the soul he 
means certainly to destroy ; nor would he awaken 
desires in his creature's heart that cannot be 
gratified. There must be a provision of mer- 
cy, a w^ay of pardon for the sinner, and of salva- 
tion for the lost." Thus is he prepared to see the 
fitness and sufiiciency of the Gospel by Christ, 
and to rejoice in that revelation of forgiv^eness 
which God himself has made. The character of 
God, which at first seemed to overwhelm and 
consume him, now lightens his darkness, and 
sustains, nay, lifts up his soul. "Out of the 
eater comes forth meat : and out of the strong- 
comes forth sweetness" (Judges xiv. 14). 

Thus we see, that except there be self-con- 
demnation, there has been no true approach 
unto God. 

The impenitent, as has been said in another 
place, remains ignorant of his sinful, guilty and 
corrupt condition, because he remains afar from 



THE PENITENT. 91 

God ; SO, on the contrary, when God by his law, 
his Gospel and his Spirit reveals himself to the 
sinful soul, it is made, in the pure and holy light 
of the Divine presence, to see its defilements, 
which before were hidden in the darkness of ig- 
norance ; and the more nearly the penitent is 
brouD'ht unto God, the briorhter does the Divine 
holiness shine ; and, therefore, the more plainly 
and the greater does his defilement appear. If 
this increased sense of defilement be not felt, it 
must be because we have drawn nigh, not to the 
God of the Bible, but to some imaginary being 
less holy, less just, and less inexorable, whom our 
sinful hearts have set up in the place of God. For 
it is impossible to bring our souls into contrast 
with the character and will of the true God, with- 
out such self-condemnation. The oldest and the 
best Christians, instead of losing this sense of un- 
worthiness, show by their confessions, that it in- 
creases with their Divine knowledge. Not because 
they become worse sinners, for we know that the 
reverse is the fact ; but because, by knowing more 



92 THE CONVICTION OF 

of God, they know better what sin is, and by 
knowing more of their own hearts, they know 
more of the sin that dwelleth in them. Even in 
heaven, though all sense of their actual defilement 
is taken away, and with it all the pains of repent- 
ance, the glorified saint never forgets that he was a 
sinner, and that he has been raised to bliss from 
out of the depths of sin and guilt, and corruption ; 
for, as he casts his crown at the feet that were 
nailed on the cross for him, and which still 
bear the prints of the wounds, his song with 
all the ransomed host, is: "Unto him that loved 
us, and washed us from all our sins in his own 
blood." 

So far, then, from this being a discouragement 
to the penitent, he should see that self-condemna- 
tion is the forerunner of hope. It is not a convic- 
tion of the natural heart; that is ever self-right- 
eous, clinging to supposed virtues, and excusing 
or palliating manifest faults ; but it has been pro- 
duced by the Spirit of God bringing God nigh to 
him, and him nigh to God. He sees with more 



THE PENITENT. 93 

than natural light. God himself has taught him. 
He is not left to the delusive dreams which he has 
indulged so long, of his own worthiness or safety. 
God has not aba,ndoned him, but has shaken him, 
until he has awakened to find himself in imminent 
danger of being overwhelmed for ever. This in- 
fluence of the Spirit is itself mercy. He is not 
forgotten or given over by the God whom he has 
offended. God's Spirit, which is the Spirit of 
Chiist, has already commenced the v/ork of mercy 
in his heart, for wherever He comes, He convinces 
of sin (John xvi. 8). The Spirit is leading him 
by the same path, which all God's people have 
trodden, from sin unto holiness, from the depths 
to glory. 

For the same reasons, it is equally clear, that 
ease of conscience and self-security are most 
fatal symptoms. Those, who can live under 
God's authority, with his law in their hands, his 
Gospel sounding in their ears, his eternal judg- 
ment before them, and not be convinced of their 
sin, their need of a Saviour and of a new heart. 



94 THE CONVICTION OF 

must truly be in a most stupid slumber, given 
up to strong delusions, with no true knowledge of 
God, tbeir own hearts or the ^yay of life. There 
is in them no preparation for Christ, no hungering 
after the bread of life, no thirst for the water of 
salvation, no Spirit voice calling them to repent, 
believe and live. Awake "thou sleeper, arise, 
and call upon thy God, if so be that God will 
think upon thee, that thou perish not'' (Jonah i. 
6)! 

Yet worse, if it be possible, is the condition of 
those, who, having been once partially aroused, 
and made to cry out for mercy, have relapsed into 
their former stupidity. They have resisted the 
Spirit. They have sinned obstinately and against 
light. They have deliberately turned their back 
upon God, and Christ, and heaven. They have 
stupified their consciences by the cares, or the 
pleasures, or the riches of this world. God may 
never awaken them in this life again. But awake 
they shall. For who shall sleep when the trump 
of the archano-el and the voice of God shakes the 



THE PENITENT. 95 

sleepers in tlie grave ; wlien driven by flaming 
swords^of cherubim,, all nations sball be compelled 
before the judgment seat, where the worm that 
never dies, and the fire that is not quenched, shall 
claim the impenitent for ever ! Then, saith the 
Lord : " Because I have called, and ye refused ; I 
stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, but 
ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would 
none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your ca- 
lamity, I will mock when your fear cometh" (Prov. 
i. 24-26). 

O how fearful an anger must mercy turned to 
indignation be ! Men are fond of supposing that 
the omnipotent, eternal God, will not stoop from 
his majestic height to punish his sinful creatures ; 
but he has stooped to open for them a way of 
escape from his ov/n anger, and if they refuse the 
salvation, his wrath must be the greater. The 
same book, often the same verse, which offers 
mercy through Jesus Christ, denounces eternal 
death upon all who reject the gracious proposal. 
You must deny the whole Scripture, and especially 



96 THE CONYICTIOX OF 

the Gospel, if you vroiild doubt that wrath unto the 
uttermost will come upon the impeniteni^ and un- 
believing. Oh ! awful wrath of holy God ! Oh ! 
miserable soul that must endure it for ever ! When 
the great day of His wrath is come, v/ho will be 
able to stand ? Who amono; us can resist His 
furious power (Jer. xxi. 5) ? Y>Tio can dwell with 
devouring fire ? "Who can dwell with everlasting 
burnings ? We can but very faintly imagine 
the sufferings of lost souls. All the tortures 
and pains that mind and body can feel here, 
are as nothing to the anger of the Lord w^hen it is 
full. The most terrible imao^es of anoaiish, g-loom 
and horror, which the Holy Ghost employs to set 
it forth, are but faint types of that which is un- 
sp eatable. 

It will be the wrath of Christ, whom God has 
set forth as the image and representative of his 
mercy, for Christ will judge the world in his 
Father's name ; the wrath of Him, who hath borne 
long and patiently with the sinner, that, peradven- 
ture, he might repent, but will then bear no longer. 



THE PENITENT. 



Wliat a flood of fiery indignation will tlie despised 
Saviour, then tlie avenging judge, pour out upon 
them who have heard of his love only to harden 
themselves in iniquity, and have presumed upon 
his merc}^, defying him to his face ; whose hearts 
have resisted the tenderness of Divine compassion, 
as well as the warnings of justice ? What measure 
can there be to their suffering, vvhen the Saviour 
abandons tliem, nay, turns upon them in venge- 
ance ? The very surprise will make his wrath 
more terrible. Even while they deafen their ears 
to his calls, and scorn his service, they yet flatter 
themselves with the hope of salvation from his 
mercy in the end. They dream .that He who pleads 
with them now, will plead for them then. They 
cannot believe that He will ever cease to offer them 
pardon. Our Saviour intimates that some may 
approach the judgment-seat with hope (Matt. vii. 
22) ; that, even when they hear the crashing 
thunders and hissing fires of the curse on every 
side, as the power of God lashes all the elements 
to rage, they may turn to the Saviour, and, remem- 
9 



98 THE CONVICTION OF 

bering Ms former promises and pleadings, invoke 
Ms name of love ; but wben they look up tbey will 
see tliat He is liimself tbe judge ; that tbe ligbt- 
nino;s o'o fortli from tbe fierceness of His counte- 
nance ; tbat the tMmder-bolts are thrown by His 
bands. Hov,' will the sinner be abashed and ter- 
ror-stricken at the change in that once mild, gentle, 
sorrowful face, and that sweet, sad, pleading voice ! 
How utter must be his despair, when the hand 
once nailed on the cross, and so often extended in 
entreating gesture, warns him away to death ever- 
lasting ! 

It will be " the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. vi. 
16). The name which the Saviour has from his 
meekness, patience, gentleness and slowness to 
wrath. There is no anger so great and unappeas- 
able as that of the good, who have been provoked 
beyond all endurance. The anger of the capricious 
and passionate, being quickly hot, is as quickly 
cold, because it has no reason or slight reason. 
The anger of the wise and good, is provoked only by 
grievous insult, and after being long restrained, 



THE PENITENT. Uy 

dammed up, as it were, by a resolute will, until 
even conscience forces it over all restraints in a 
sweeping flood. Suoli will be the wrath of the 
Lamb. The sorrows of his life, the bitterness of 
his passion, the pleadings of his Spirit, bear wit- 
ness to his forbearance and long-suffering. For 
many long years He has restrained his indignation ; 
but then he vvill let it burst forth. Even the meek 
Lamb will be roused to vengeance. Justice de- 
mands that such crime be no lono-er borne with. 
The punishment of such sinners becoines a duty to 
his law and his empire ; and the sinner will find 
that the mercy of Jesus has only aggravated his 
guilt and eternal woe. 

Then there will be no escape. A¥ho can elude 
God's eye, or break away from his almighty hand ? 
Where shall the sinner flee to get beyond the om- 
nipresence of a pursuing God ? What barriers can 
he raise against his approach ? Where can he hide 
his guilty soul ? He m^ay call upon the rocks and 
hills to hide him ; but the rocks and hills are the 
creatures of God, and v>ill melt in the flame of his 



100 THE CONVICTION OF 

terrible presence. AnniMlation would be a refuge ; 
but lie cannot put off his immortality, and the 
pangs of that death are eternal. 

Now there is an escape from the wrath of God 
in his mercy, through the mediation of Jesus ; but 
then there will be no Mediator. " There remaineth 
no more sacrifice for sins" (Heb. x. 26). God has 
no other Son to give, that he may die for those 
who have despised his only-begotten. There will 
be no second Bethlehem, no second Calvary, no 
second Gospel. The Sun of Righteousness will 
never break the gloom of that eternal light ; the 
Sabbath will never dawn on the darkness of that 
despair. Hope will for ever abandon the twice 
lost. The sinner's worst torment will be in his 
own soul. His memory of the sins he has com- 
mitted, and the opportunities of mercy he has 
abused, will feed the unquenchable flame ; and 
remorse, like a venomous worm that never dies, 
gnaw in upon his soul. 

O thou crucified One ! give us refuge in thy 
mercy now from thy vengeance then ! Our fear is 



THE PENITENT. 101 

upon US now ; now do we feel the lieaviness of 
our calamity in lia^dng sinned against thee ; mock 
not our prayer ; laugh us not to scorn, Thou that 
sittest in the heavens ! Once more stretch out thy 
hand ; call once more, and we will gladly grasp 
the sceptre of thy love ! If thou markest our in- 
iquities, we must perish ; but we trust that thou, 
O Lamb of God, hast borne them for us, and that 
with thy stripes we may be healed ! 



VI. 



THE FAITH OF THE PENITENT. 



"But there is forgiveness witli tlieej that thou 
mayest be feared." 

It has been shown from the preceding part of 
the psahn, and particularly from the third verse, 
that a true penitent addresses himself unto God 
with a fall conviction of his utter unworthiness. 
He cannot, therefore, expect any thing from God's 
goodness, of which he is so undeserving, much 
less of God^s justice, which condemns him. If 
God mark his iniquities, he cannot stand. His 
only hope must be, that God will not "mark" his 
"iniquities," or, in other words, that he will 

108 



104 THE FAITH OF 

forgive tlieiii. But Trhat warrant has lie to hope 
that God will forgive his iniquities ? God is just ; 
how can he pass by transgression ? He has said, 
that "the wicked shall not he unpunivshed" (Prov. 
xi. 21); how can he pardon the wicked? That 
"the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. xviii. 
4, 20); how may the sinner live? That He 
"will by no means clear the guilty" (Exod. xxxiv. 
7; Xum. xiv. 18); how may the condemned be 
justified? How can mercy be consistent with 
justice ? 

These are questions which mere reason cannot 
help us to answer. Reason never has answered 
them ; for it seems an utter contradiction to speak 
of a just mercy, or a merciful justice, mercy being 
the remission of penalties which justice imposes 
and ought to exact. The best of the classic 
moralists, though they applaud clemency and 
gentleness in a ruler, condemn mercy as a weak- 
ness, which, if not a vice in itself, is an encourage- 
ment to vice in others. Seneca, indeed, pro- 
nounces it a vice most common to the weakest 



THE PENITENT. 105 

minds, and says, unliesitatingly, tliat "no man 
wlio deserves to be punished ougiit to be par- 
doned, because a ruler, if lie be truly wise, does 
nothing but what it is just to do " (De Clem. ii. 
5, Y). We find, it is true, among the ancient 
heathen, some notion of mercy from the gods ; 
but, setting aside their very false ideas of deity, 
and the miserable character of the popular di- 
vinities, they sought to avert the anger of heaven 
by sacrifices and purifications, borrowed by tra- 
dition, as we doubt not, from the typical rite of 
sacrifice instituted by God himself at the gate of 
Eden. It is also common to hear worldly and 
impenitent men talking of the mercy of God, as 
if he were too merciful to punish them for their 
sins ; yet it is easy to see that theirs is a vague 
imagination, derived from an imperfect under- 
standing of the mercy of God as made known in 
the Gospel, an ignorance of God's character, and 
of their own. They hope to escape the severe 
punishment threatened against sin, rather because 
they do not account themselves to deserve it, than 



106 THE FAITH OF 

because tliey tliink God too merciful to give tliem 
tlieir deserts. 

"\\1iere a soul is fully couvicted of sin, as we 
see our penitent to liave been, and it is beartilv 
desirous of regaining tbe favour of the infi- 
nitely holy God, no sucb sophistries or supersti- 
tions can satisfy tbe conscience. Xotbing less 
than an assured revelation of "some method by 
which God maybe "a just God and a Saviour" 
(Is. xlv), wiir warrant confidence in him. Thus 
the apostle in Hebrews, tells us that even the 
divinely appointed ritual of Levi, could not in 
itself satisfy the spiritual worshippers ; for he 
says: "those gifts and sacrifices could not make 
him that did the service perfect as pertaining to 
the conscience" (Heb. ix. 9). It was confidence 
in "the better hope," which they prefigured, that 
sealed peace upon the soul of the Jewish believer 
(Heb. vii. 19). 

The same Holy Spirit which wrought in the 
sinner's heart such a deep sense of sin, guilt and 
pollution, such a sorrow for his iniquities, and such 



THE PENITENT. 107 

a hatred of Ms vileness, conducts Mm to tlie reve- 
lation of mercy made by God liimself in tlie Gos- 
pel OF Jesus. The soul, driven from every other 
hope or supposed refuge, is shut up to that only 
method by which God has declared that he will 
justify and save sinners. 

This Gospel is briefly stated by our blessed Lord 
in his conversation with Mcodemus : " As Moses 
lifted up the serpent in the v/ilderness, even so 
must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever 
believeth in him, should not perish, but have 
eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieveth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life. For God sent not his Son into the 
world to condemn the world, but that the world 
through him might be saved" (John iii. 14-1 7). 
Here, according to the interpretation afforded by 
other scriptures, there are several things stated : 

I. It is the merciful desire of God to save sin 
ners : " God so loved the world." 

II. God has appointed his own only begotten 



108 THE FAITK OF 

Son as the Saviour of sinners, '^ that whosoever 
believeth i7i Mm might not perish, but have ever- 
lastinsr hfe." 

o 

III. The Son of God became incarnate upon 
earth to save sinners : ^' God sent not his Son into 
the luorld to condemn the world, but that the world 
throup-h him mig-ht be saved." 

lY. The provision for the salvation of sinners 
was fully made by the Son of God incarnate upon 
earth in his righteous life, consummated upon the 
cross : "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the loil- 
derness^ even so must the Son of Man he lifted up^ 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life." 

Y. The method by which a sinner becomes a 
partaker of this salvation, is a living faith : " Who- 
soever helieveth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life." 

Thus from the Gospel the penitent learns : 
" There is forgiveness with God, that he may be 
feared." Here is, 



THE PENITENT. 109 

First : The truth believed : " There is forgive- 
ness with thee." 

Secondly : The proper consequence of faith in 
this truth : " That thou ma^^-est be feared." 

First : The truth believed : " There is forp-ive- 
ness with thee." 

In contemplating this truth, the penitent con- 
siders, the purpose of forgiveness ; the method of 
forgiveness ; the application of forgiveness. 

The purpose of forgiveness. From the begin- 
ning of the curse, which God sent upon man 
because of sin, he has given intimations of his 
purpose to forgive. The fact that he did not at 
once consume man with his wrath, but bore with 
him notwithstanding his sin ; the names by which 
he revealed himself, as " the Lord, the Lord God, 
merciful and gracious, long-suifering, and abundant 
in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thous- 
ands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin" 
(Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7) ; his promises from the first one, 
that " the seed of the woman should bruise the 
head of the serpent" (Gen. iii. 15), and the cove- 
10 



110 THE FAITH OF 

nant to Abraham, tliat " in Ms seed all tlie nations 
of the earth should be blessed" (Gen. xviii. 18), 
^'ith a multitude of others, great and precious ; 
tli8 appointment of Divine worsl^lp, sho^vino- that 
iie might be appro^i^lied by sinful men ; and, above 
all, the institution of the rite of sacrifice, shadow- 
ing forth a great propitiation to be made (Heb. v. 
vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xi.) ; all testified that his counsel 
vras of mercy to tlie sinner (Gal. iii). These inti- 
mations were, however, all connected with intima- 
tions, as distinct, of some atonement necessary ; 
for, at the same time that He declared himself 
merciful, He asserted that He would by no means 
clear the guilty (Ex. xxxiv. 7) ; the promises were 
of a salvation to come, and the sacrifices proved 
that " without the shedding of blood there was no 
remission" (Heb. ix. 22). 

These revelations all became more and more dis- 
tinct, until the Divine readiness to save was made 
fully known in tlie manifestation to the world of 
Christ, the Immanuel, our only and sufficient 
Saviour. How determined must God have been 



THE PENITENT. Ill 

to save sinners when lie spared not his only begot- 
ten Son, but delivered bim np for us all ? 

Thus the penitent is awakened to hope by the 
long suiTering of God, the gracious promises of 
God, and the merciful name of God ; but, at the 
same time, feels the necessity of a sufficient atone- 
ment by which mercy may be justified, until he is 
led to Christ, when he is convinced that God can 
have no pleasure in the death of the sinner, 
because he has appointed his own Son to die in 
the sinner's room ; though this conviction of the 
Divine vv^illingness to pardon through Christ, may 
precede a distinct application of that pardon to 
his ovrn soul. 

This brings him to consider : 

The method of forgiveness. It is through the 
mediation of Jesus Christ. He is the appointed 
Saviour, as his name, Christ the Anointed, Jesus 
the Saviour, and his consecration by the Hoh^ 
Ghost, proves (Matt. i. 21 ; iii. 16, 17 ; Is. Ixi. 1). 
He was (and, blessed be his holy name ! still is), 
wonderfully constituted to be our Saviour, being 



112 THE FAITH OF 

God as the only begotten Son of the same nature 
with the Father (Phil. ii. 6), and j\Ian as the seed 
of the woman, made in all points like as we are, 
yet without sin (Heb. ii. 14-18) ; the Daysman 
between us and God, ^' laying his hands on us 
both" (Job ix. 33). Thus as God, we are assured, 
he is able to do all that is needed for our redemp- 
tion ; and as Man, he is fitted to do all as our 
Kinsman-Redeemer (Lev. xxv. ; Job xix. 25). 

He has accomplished by his righteous life and 
atoning death, a full satisfaction to the law of God 
on our behalf, having fulfilled the law and made 
it honourable by a righteousness with which God 
has declared himself well pleased, and an expiat- 
ing death, which God has declared to be sufficient 
by raising him up from the dead. For God had 
promised that ''by his knowledge his righteous 
servant should justify many" (Is. liii. 11), and 
afterwards has assured us that "he had set him 
forth to be a propitiation through faith in his 
blood to declare his righteousness for the remis- 
sion of sins that are past, through the forbearance 



THE PENITENT. 113 

of God ; that he might be just, and the justiiier of 
him which beheveth in Jesus" (Eom. iii. 21-31), 
Nay, more, having accomphshed his work of 
merit on our behalf upon earth (John xix. 30), 
he abceuded upon high (Ps. Ixviii. 18), as our 
Head and Intercessor, to plead tliose merits, and 
to ask and receive gifts for men (Eph. iv. 8), 
even all needed grace of the Holy Ghost (Acts ii, 
33), that the Lord our God might dwell in his 
people ; so that now all who will, may come unto 
the throne of grace, and find grace to help in 
every time of need (Heb. x. 20-22; iv. 16). 

This, then, is the method of forgiveness by our 
almighty Saviour, yet our sympathizing brother ; 
his perfect righteousness, his sufficient expiation, 
his prevalent intercession, and his omnipotent 
Spirit, to teach, sanctify, guide, strengthen, and 
defend, "0 the breadth, the length, the height, 
the depth of God's redeeming love !" now exclaims 
the penitent : " There is, indeed, forgiveness with 
him, enough to cover all my sins, my guilt, and 
corruption." 
10* 



114 THE FAITH OF 

This appears the more fullv, as he considers the 
application of forgiveness. It is applied to all who 
believe. There is no question about the merit of 
the sinner ; it contemplates him only as lost, and 
needing forgiveness. The vilest may come and 
receive it without price. There is no question of 
his ability to render future service ; it contem- 
plates the sinner as utterly infirm, and able to do 
good works only through grace, that the glory 
maybe the Lord's: "Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved;*' " Only believe, 
all things are possible to him that believeth." 
This is the promise ; accept him as thy Divine, 
all sufficient, atoning, interceding. Saviour, and 
the moment thou believest, thou art saved ! How 
free is this salvation ! How suited to the wants 
of the penitent soul ! 

It is applied by the Holy Ghost. He, who 
prepared the way by convincing of sin, by casting 
from the soul of the penitent every other stay and 
hope, by leading him to look, and to cry only to 
God, now works in the soul this apprehending 



THE PENITENT. 115 

faith, and opens the fuihiess of the promise so 
clearly, that the penitent sees, feels, and knows it 
speaks to him (Eph. i. 17, 18, 19). The dark 
shadows flee away ; the light of Divine love beams 
around him (Rom. v. 5) ; the love of God through 
Jesus Christ is shed abroad in his heart, and he 
rejoices in Christ, ^'who loved him and gave him- 
self for him" (Gal. ii. 20). "Being justified by 
faith, he hath peace with God" (Rom. v. 1). 

It is true, he is yet a sinner, weak, corrupt, 
and ignorant ; yet " compassed about with a body 
of sin and death" (Rom. vii. 14-25), yet in a 
world of temptations (Eph. vi. 12) ; yet exposed 
to the malice of enemies, subtle and strong be- 
yond his powers of resistance ; but the sealing 
of forgiveness through Christ upon his heart, con- 
tains in it and is itself the earnest of perfect 
redemption (Eph. i. 14; 1 Cor. i. 30). The 
sanctification now begun, shall be carried on unto 
perfection (Phil. i. 6). He shall have grace in 
his heart to struggle against the evil lusts of his 
flesh (2 Cor. xii, 9) ; light upon his path to guide 



116 THE FAITH OF 

liim tiirougli tlie world tliat lietli in wickedness 
(Ps. cxix. 105) ; an armour of lieavenly proof 
for head, and breast, and feet, to conquer, by t.lic 
strength of Christ, all his spiritual foes (Eph. vi. 
13-17); and at last, throu_g^h death, be in ado 
more than conqueror (1 Cor. xv. 54-57 ; Rom. 
viii. 37). God who forgives him, will prove tlie 
fullness of his pardon by receiving him into a 
holy heaven, where he will sin no more, and 
be tempted no more, and grieve no more for 
ever, but spend an eternity of perfect love, and 
purity, and jo}^ in his Fatlier's presence, at his 
Saviour's feet, and among the shining angels, 
body and soul complete with immortal and incor- 
ruptible life (Eev. xxii. 2-6 ; 1 Pet. i. 3, 4). Now 
he lives no more for time, but for eternity ; no 
more for earth, but for heaven ; no more for sin, 
but unto God. *'Out of the depths," he aspire^ 
to the height of heaven. He is forgiven ; no 
more a rebel, but at peace with God ; no more ari 
enemy, but a child, and "if a son, then an heir; 



THE PENITENT. 11 7 

an heir of God, and joint lieir witli Clirist" (Rom. 
viii. 17). 

Secondly : The proper consequence of faith in 
this truth. 

"That tliou may est be feared." 

Here is the necessary and infallible sign of 
living faith in the truth of God's forgiveness. Its 
discovery of mercy ever produces a holy reverence 
for God. The very revelation of mercy manifests 
more clearly God's holy hatred of sin. How much 
must He have hated sin, how stern must be his 
justice in condemning and punishing it, when 
He refuses to pardon the transgressor, except 
upon the condition that his own Son should bear 
tlie punishment, and honour the law, in the room 
of the sinner ! When, though his ov^n Son stood 
forth in the sinner's place. He remitted not one 
jot or tittle of his law's demands, but poured out 
upon the head of Jesus the vials of that wrath due 
to us ! When it was not possible that the bitter 
"cup" should pass from the lips of Him who was 
mighty to save ! who can turn from the cross 



118 THE FAITH OF 

of Jesus, tlie Sufferer for sin, and not fear to sin 
against One so merciful, yet so just ; so lioly, yet 
so kind? How can any liope for mercy from God, 
when tliey continue willful sinners against God ? 

The revelation of mercy througli Christ brings 
God nearer to the soul of the believer. He lives 
before God ; he invokes God by his prayers ; he 
communes with God in meditation upon his word ; 
he entreats God to dwell in his heart. How then 
will he dare to offend against that present, holy, 
all-seeing Spirit, whose holiness and purity is thus 
more and more apparent, as he enjoys him more 
and more through Christ ? 

The revelation of mercy absorbs the soul of the 
sinner with a grateful love. He delights in God 
as the holy God, the just God, the God who 
delio:hteth in rioditeousness ; and so the true be- 
liever himself delights in holiness, and justice, and 
righteousness. It is his desire, his hope, his aim, 
to become holy, as God is holy. It is to him an 
unspeakable pleasure to worship God, to serve him, 
nay, to fear him, not as a servant, but a child. He 



THE PENITENT. 119 

is pained at sin remaining in him, "because it of- 
fends liis God, and is an unlikeness to Christ, whom 
God loves. He desires heaven most, because there 
he shall serve God perfectly, and so he vfould com- 
nience heaven upon earth. " The love of Christ 
constraineth him ... to live not unto himself, but 
unto him who died for him, and rose again" (2 Cor. 
V. 14, 15). 

Nay, the Spirit of God never applies pardon to 
the soul of a sinner, that he does not at the same 
time enter his heart to 1511 him with the love of 
God. Thus faith, as one apostle says, '- purifieth 
the heart" (Acts xv. 9), 'Svorketh by love" (Gal. v. 
6) ; and another : " overcometh the w^orld" (1 John 
V. 4). This effect of faith proves its reality, for 
" faith without works is dead" (James ii. 20). All 
other seeming faith is but seeming, a counterfeit, a 
damning delusion. 

From all this we may learn, that 

The true penitent is never satisfied until he has 
found God in Christ. If his penitence be the work 
of the Spirit of Christ, that Spirit will lead him to 



120 THE FAITH OF 

Christ. Until the blood of Christ is sprinkled upon 
his conscience, he can have no peace ; until the 
Holy Spirit has applied the promise of God through 
Christ to his soul, he can have no hope. He must 
have a Saviour ^vhom God approves, or God Avill 
not accept him ; an almighty Saviour, or he cannot 
reach his case ; an atoning Saviour, or his sins will 
still cry out against him ; an interceding Saviour, 
or he dare not approach unto God ; a sanctifying 
Saviour, or he vdll never overcome the world, the 
flesh, and the devil ; a Saviour unto the uttermost, 
or he will fall far short of heaven. All this he can 
find only in Christ. 

The true penitent casts himself confidently upon 
God in Christ for salvation. As he has felt his 
need of Christ, so now he sees Christ's fitness to 
save him. His regard for the holiness of God, the 
exactness of his justice, and the truth of his pro- 
mise, will not now allow him to doubt that Christ, 
whom God has appointed, accepted, and revealed 
as the only Saviour, is able to save his soul, is 
wiiliug to save his soul ; nay, does begin the work 



THE PENITENT. 121 

of salvation in liis soul. Unbelief would be insult 
to God tlie Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. To in- 
sist, or even dream of mingling any thing of his 
own with the merits of Christ, would be to doubt 
the sufficiency of God's method to save, and to 
cling to some merit of his own. He finds all he 
needs, all he desires, in Christ alone. 

The true penitent continues and increases his 
penitence after he has drawn hope from Christ. 
Repentance with him lies not in a few spasms, 
tears, and hours of anguish, at the commencement 
of his Christian life. He repents, so long as a sin 
remains to be subdued, a temptation overcome, or 
a grace to be attained. The more he knows of 
God, his love as well as his hoHness, his mercy as 
w^ell as his justice, the more does he love God and 
desire to serve him ; the more is he dissatisfied 
with any degree of service he can render ; the 
more he longs after a perfect holiness. This is 
the spirit of heaven, the earnest of eternal life. 
Such a soul God certainly accepts through Jesu- 
Christ his Son. 
11 



122 THE FAITH OF 

But wliat increased sin, and guilt, and danger, 
are theirs, who hear of Christ and reject him ; 
who, when they might have mercy, defy God's 
wrath; who '^trample upon the body of the Son 
of God, and comit the blood of the covenant, 
wherewith he vras sanctified, an unholy thins:?" 
How can they be saved whom even mercy does 
not reach? ''He that believeth not is condemned 
already, because he hath not believed upon the 
only begotten Son of God." Condemned ! con- 
demned of God ! Condemned for rejecting the 
only begotten Son of God ! Condemned already ! 
The sentence is not against them ; it rests upon 
them. Nay, the Sa^dour will himself be the Judge 
to order the sentence executed. God, said the 
apostle to the Athenians (Acts xvii. 31), "hath 
appointed a day in the which he wdll judge the 
vforld in righteousness, by that Man wdiom he 
hath ordained : whereof he hath giyen assurance 
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the 
dead." The ofiice Christ came to execute was 
not simply the salvation of sinners, but also the 



THE PENITENT. 123 

vindication of the Divine justice. For tlie sake of 
liis rio-liteousness and intercession, the execution 
of the sentence against our sinful race was sus- 
pended, to give men an opportunity of faith and 
repentance. For the same reasons, Christ has 
been exalted, and armed with all authority in 
heaven and in earth. Now^ he gives, repentance 
and remission of sins to all who call upon him for 
the mercy which has been justified by this atone- 
ment ; but when the time of this merciful waiting 
is exhausted, wdien, though many have honoured 
God by believing on his Son as their Saviour, 
there will yet be found many who have rejected 
the offers of life, and continued in sin, it becomes 
Christ as the Steward of his Father's glory, and 
the Vindicator of the lavv^, to see that justice, long 
and mercifully, though, in the case of these obsti- 
nate transgressors, fruitlessly delayed, is satisfied. 
Had they repented and believed in Christ, he 
'would have applied the satisfaction made by him- 
self to their acquittal; but, as they would not 
accept of his vicarious merit, they themselves must 



124 THE FAITH OF 

bear the sentence upon their own souls, and Christ 
must see it executed. Their guilt has been greatly- 
increased ; they have not only despised the law of 
God, but his Gospel ; not only defied his wrath, 
but rejected his grace ; made his long suffering an 
encourao'ement to continued rebellion, and forced 
their way through the restraints of the Spirit 
down to depths of sin, which never could have 
been reached, had not God been willing to forgive, 
and Christ died to save. The atonement itself 
would be a reproach, if the almighty Saviour were 
to permit the escape of the penitent, for then 
would Christ be "the minister of sin" (Gal. ii. 17). 
jSTo crime can be greater than that of thus making 
the Gospel, by which God intends, through the 
display of mercy in harmony with justice, to con- 
vert us fi'ora our sin, an encouragement to sin on ; 
and, therefore, will Christ visit with peculiarly 
heavy punishment, all who, because his interces- 
sion has prevented the sentence against their evil* 
work from being executed speedily, set their 
hearts more fully to do evil I'Eccl. viii. 11). They 



THE PENITENT. 125 

miglit have been saved, because there was for- 
giveness with Him ; they cannot be saved when 
that forgiveness is no longer offered ; and the 
only Saviour from the wrath ^f God, is the Judge 
to execute his veno-eance. 

O holy and merciful Lord God, our Redeemer 
and our Judge ! save us from our unbelief and 
impenitence, that we may be saved from thy 
wrath ; working in us by thy Holy Spirit, that 
child-like, salutary fear of thee, Avhich is the 
earnest of eternal life ! 



11^ 



VII. 



THE CONDUCT OF THE PENITENT. 



'' I WAIT for tlie Lord ; my soul doth wait ; and 
in liis word do I liope. 

" My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than they 
that watch for the morning; I say, more than 
they that watch for the morning." 

"I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw 
all men unto me" (John xii. 32), said the Saviour; 
and, adds the Evangelist: "this he said, signify- 
ing what death he should die." But the Master 
had declared on a previous occasion: "No man 
can come unto me, except the Father which hath 
sent me, draw him." Thus we are clearly taught, 

127 



128 THE CONDUCT OF 

that the true penitent is drawn, not driven, unto 

God ; that the great attractive of the soul to God, 
is the manifestation of God's foroiveness throuofh 
Christ crucified ; and that it is nothing less than 
Divine Power, which so manifests the forgiving 
love of God through Christ crucified, as to draw 
the soul irresistibly, yet svreetly, unto himself. 
Except, therefore, the sinner he drawn unto God, 
he is not truly penitent ; but, if he be drav/n unto 
God, he has certain proof of having been efi'ectual- 
ly called through faith in Christ Jesus unto eternal 
life. The conduct of the penitent in our psalm 
illustrates these doctrines. 

We have seen him raised, by the grace of the 
Holy Ghost, ^'out of the depth" of his sin, guilt 
and corruption, even while convinced of his utter 
unworthiness, to a confident though humble faith 
in the forgiveness which is with God. But so 
far from relapsing into cold indifference because 
pardon is revealed; so far from continuing in 
wilful sin, because grace abounds (Rom. vi. 1, 2); 
so far from faith in a free, unmerited, and unpur- 



THE PENITENT. 129 

cliaseable salvation, encouraging liim to a careless 
or licentious practice, (as the revilers of justifica- 
tion by faitli slanderously report, Rom. iii. 8), 
the more he discovers of God's forgiving kind- 
ness, the more does he reverently honour and fear 
to offend the God of his salvation. Nay, the grace 
he has received, quickens his appetite for more 
grace ; he feels his entire dependence upon God's 
help, and is determined to cling always, and until 
the end, to that almighty and most merciful arm, 
which raised him up " out of the horrible pit, and 
the miry clay," and ^' set his feet upon a rock" 
(Ps. xl. 2), the Rock Christ Jesus. For he says : 
^' I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in 
his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the 
Lord more than they that watch for the morning ; 
I say, more than they that watch for the morning." 

Here we must consider. His waiting ; His wait- 
ing for the Lord ; His waiting for the Lord with 
hope in his ivord ; His waiting for the Lord 7nore 
than they that ivatchfor the morning, 

I. Waiting. 



130 THE CONDUCT OF 

II. Godly waiting. 

III. Hopeful vfaiting. 

ly. Watchful, constant, ardent waiting. 

I. His waiting. 

The word rendered waiting^ literally signifies a 
direct tendency tov>^ards an object, as the tendency 
of streams to the sea. When used in a moral 
sense to describe a disposition of the soul, it im- 
plies a drawing near to another, from a sense of 
dependence, a desire of favour, and an expectation 
of good. It is the flowing forth of the whole soul, 
its thoughts, its aiTections, its vvishes, and its con- 
fidence. It is not an occasional disposition, but a 
habit of the soul ; not an idle or indifferent, but an 
active temper, shov/ing itself in petitions, earnest 
looks, and persevering endeavours to obtain the 
good desired ; as the faithful servant waits upon 
his master, or the affectionate child upon its parent. 
It implies choice, sense of need, application for 
help, obedience and trust. Here it is : 

II. Godly waiting. Waiting /or the Lord. 

^' Waiting for the Lord," describes the conduct 



THE PENITENT. 131 

of every soul conscious of sin, yet believing that 
there is forgiveness with Jehovah. It is not merely 
a looking for deliverance in circumstances of dis- 
tress or danger, but the prevailing, appropriate, 
characteristic temper of a faithful penitent. Thus 
the Psalmist : " Truly my soul waiteth upon God ; 
from him cometh my salvation ;" " My soul, wait 
thou only upon God ; for my expectation is from 
him" (Ps. Ixii. 1, 5); "Those that wait on the 
Lord, they shall inherit the earth" (Ps. xxxvii. 9) ; 
and the prophet : " They that wait upon the Lord 
shall renevf their strength ; they shall mount up 
w^ith wings as eagles ; they shall run, and not 
be weary ; they shall walk, and not faint" (Is. 
xl. 31). 

Such a soul is ever drawing nigh unto God (Ps. 
Ixxiii. 28). The wicked depart from God (Ps. 
Ixxiii. 27) ; like the prodigal from his Other's 
house, (Luke xv. 13), they desire to forget God 
(Ps. ix. 17), and to have no fear of God before 
their eyes (Ps. xxxvi. 1) ; because the idea of 
God's presence restrains them from sinful indul- 



132 THE CONDUCT OF 

gence. The ftict of their dependence upon God 
offends their pride, and the remembrance of the 
Divine justice alarms their conscience, fastening 
terror upon their souls (John iii. 19, 20). To be 
" ungodly,'' to be " without God," and to be 
vriched, mean the same thing. The true penitent 
returns unto God (Luke xv. 17-20), meditates 
upon God (Ps. i. 1,2), and fears before him all the 
day (Ps. XXV. 5 ; xci. 2) ; because a sense of God's 
presence is a refuge and defence from temptation 
(Ps. Ixi. 3) ; the Divine character excites an ad- 
miring reverence (Ps. cxxx. 4), with a desire to be 
like him (Ps. xvii. 15), and the forgiving m.ercy of 
God encourages and moves him to attem.pt the 
Divine service (Ps. cxvi. 5). He loves God, and 
therefore longs to be with him, aud to enjoy him 
(Ps. xlii. 1, 2). The more that he fears to sin, the 
nearer does he draw unto God (John vi. 37). The 
tide of his affections is changed, for as they were 
before prone toward earth, they now aspire toward 
lieaven (Col iii. 2). 

The penitent believer is deeply sensible of his 



THE PENITENT. 133 

entire dependence. Raised from the depths of 
sin, he feels his utter unworthiness ; from the 
depths of guilt, his need of pardoning mercy ; 
from the depths of corruption, his need of Divine 
grace. All things are the Lord's, and therefore 
God only can bestow what is needful, as well for 
his body as his soul (Ps. cxlv. 15). God bestows 
no f^wour upon the unworthy (Ps. Ixxxiv. 11), 
and, therefore, except he be covered with the 
worthiness of Christ, he can have no blessing. 
God's blessing is found only in the way of 
righteousness (Is. Ixiv. 5) ; and, therefore, except 
he be upheld, and guided, and strengthened by 
the Holy Ghost (Is. xl. 29), he cannot maintain 
himself in a godly life. He is, therefore, entirely 
dependent upon God in Christ. He earnestly 
desires this Divine favour. The most ordinary 
things necessary to his comfort in this life, he 
values, chiefly because they are proofs of God's 
love (Rom. viii. 32). He delights to receive his 
daily bread, his daily strength, his nightly rest, 
his familiar enjoyments, from the hand of his 
12 



134 THE CONDUCT OF 

heavenly Father, as the gifts of God through Jesus 
Christ ; and so he waits upon God for them. 

But it is the favour of God to his soul, he 
desires the most. He longs for a perfect cleans- 
ing, a complete sanctification, an entire obedience ; 
so long as a sin remains in him, as he is unable to 
perform any duty, as he is prone to relapse into 
folly, and to mingle his vain thoughts and affec- 
tions v'ith the pure knowledge and love of God, 
does he desire grace, vrhich God alone can give ; 
grace which seals him as a child of God; grace 
which is the earnest and the foretaste of a heavenly 
life. Comfort for his sorrow, light for his ignor- 
ance, strength for his weakness — all he desires from 
God. He is never secure, except in God. The 
temptation baffled to-day, starts into new strength 
on the morrow, or is succeeded by others more 
subtle, strong, and dangerous. Tims is he ever 
desiring help from God, and ever waits upon him : 
and 

Thus he makes appUcatlon unto God. He prays, 
for God hears prayer through Jesus Christ. Nor 



THE PENITENT. 135 

is liis prayer interrupted and occasional ; for, 
tliougli lie cannot be always upon his knees, nor 
uttering words of supplication, there is a constant 
spirit of prayer in his heart, and his desire is to 
the Lord at all times. His weeping eyes are lifted 
up to Him, who sees the heart and reads the coun- 
tenance. Prayer is as necessary to him as breath ; 
he cannot live without it. 

As* he asks for grace, so he obeys God in the 
use of those means, which he has appointed to be 
the channels of his blessing. He endeavours to 
forsake every evil way, which God declares leads to 
death, and to pursue every righteous path, which 
God declares leads unto life. He searches the 
Scriptures daily, as men cultivate the earth for 
food. The truth is as necessary to his soul as 
daily bread is to his body. He cannot live with- 
out it. He goes to the sanctuary, because there 
God delights to dweh. He listens to the preaching 
of the word, because " it hath pleased God by the 
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 
He receives the sacraments, because the Master, 



136 THE CONDUCT OF 

who ordained tliem, makes tliem to every penitent 
soul the washing away of sin, the bread of hfe, and 
the wine of joy. He mingles humble tlianhsgiving 
wdth all his service, and cordial praise with all his 
prayers, because w^ith such sacrifices God is well 
pleased through Jesus Christ. Nay, he rejoices to 
consecrate all his powers, all his talents, all his 
means, and all his time, as an offering of devout 
gratitude to the service of God, and to His service 
in doing good to men. This is the w^ay in which 
his Master Avalked, the way in which God has com- 
manded him to walk, the way which leads from 
grace unto grace, until he is complete in heaven. 

Intimately connected with this obedience is suh- 
mission to the will of God in providence. He 
waits upon God for blessing ; he has committed 
his soul unto God for sanctification, and, therefore, 
he meekly receives the lot, the chastisement, the 
care that God sends, believing that what God 
chooses for him is best, what God makes him suf- 
fer is needed, and the channel by which God con- 
veys blessing, the safest and the truest. It is as 



THE PENITENT. 137 

much the part of true piety to suffer patiently, as 
it is to obey actively. 

Thus waiting upon God only, and in the v/ay 
of God's commandments only, he expects the 
answer to the desires of his heart. As he longs, 
as he prays, as he walks in the path of upright- 
ness, he is ever ready, with his heart open, to 
receive the grace which he needs and seeks. For 
his is 

III. Hopeful waiting. 

" In his word do I hope." 

Hope is more than mere longing (Rom. viii. 
24, 25) ; it is founded upon some warrant that we 
shall receive what we desire. The hope of the 
true penitent is thus intelligent, because it is built 
upon the word of God, which cannot deceive or 
fail. His faith receives that word as true, there- 
fore he hopes. He waits in hope, not because he 
deserves any thing himself, he is utterly unworthy ; 
nor because he prays, or obeys, or submits, for, 
being unworthy, there can be no procuring cause 
in any thing he does • but only from the forgiving 
12^ 



138 THE CONDUCT OF 

mercy and sovereign grace of God, as revealed to 
him by God's own word and Spirit. From tlie 
word lie learns the infinite merit of Clirist liis 
Savionr. Thouoii he deserves nothinix but wratli, 
Christ liatii provided an infinite merit of atone- 
ment to cleraise him from his sin, and an infi^nit-c 
merit of ol^edience to deserve for him all the riches 
of God. Because he believes God will be f^iithful 
to his own Son, the penitent hopes that God, for 
his Son's sake, will wdthhold from him no good 
thing. It is not presumption, but an honouring 
of Christ to expect great blessing for his sahe. 

lie read:- in tlio Gospel which reveals Christ, the 
the great C'liipassion and regard of God for his 
soul. AVjiat unbounded hjve tov>^ards his chosen 
must have overth^wed from the heart of God, vvdien 
" he spared not his o^^ n Son, but delivered liim up 
for us all !" How determined must God have becii 
to bless the believer in Jesus, when he constituted 
lum our advocate and intercessor ! How certainly 
will lie listen to the prayers for us of that beloved 
Son in whom He is well pleased ! How shall He 



THE PENITENT. 139 

not, when He gives Jesus to us as our atonement, 
righteousness, and intercessor, "with him also 
freely give us all things V 

The same Gospel reveals to him the almighty 
Agent in the conferring and application of blessing, 
even the third person in the ever adorable Trinity, 
(Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to 
the Holy Ghost !) the Divine Spirit. How cer- 
tainly will that Holy Spirit detect our every need, 
searching our hearts, and knowing our ways ! 
How^ wisely will that Holy Spirit arrange and 
provide the various economies for our w^eak and 
imperfect natures ! How infinitely rich in all that 
is good for us, must that Holy Spirit be ! What 
can we want which He does not know, and cannot 
in the best manner bestow ? 

And then he reads the 2^'omises of God, exceed- 
ingly great, and exceedingly precious, in number, 
variety, adaptedness, and fullness. There are no 
possible circumstancas in which he can be placed, 
that he has not a promise waiting for him. All 
these promises are his by the purchase of Christ, 



140 THE CONDUCT OF 

by tlie covenant oatli of God, by the applying grace 
of the Holy Ghost. In them he reads what God 
purposes to do for him, Avhat God has directed him 
to ask for, what God commands him to expect from 
Ids fatherly love. God, by his Spirit in Christ 
Jesus, has made him to hope upon his word ; and 
taught him to appropriate those promises to his 
soul ; nor would he awaken desires so strong only 
to mock them with disappointment. The word 
of God, and the Spirit of God, cause him to rejoice 
in hope ; and therefore he waits in hope. As he 
receives grace in answer to his prayer, he is en- 
couraged to hope for more ; so his desire and his 
hope increase with their gratification. 

Thus is his, 

TV. A watchful, constant, ardent waiting. 

" I wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait . . . 
My soul w^aiteth for the Lord more than they that 
watch for the morning ; nay, more than they that 
watch for the morning." 

The figure here employed is very simple and ex- 
pressive. As one, made for any reason to w^atch 



THE PSNITEN'T. 141 

througli the niglit long till the day breaks and the 
shadows flee away, fixes his eye on the eastern 
horizon to catch the first shootings of the dawn, 
and thinks the minutes slow until the gray light 
appears, heralding the joyous sun, so does the 
faithful penitent in this world of sins and shadows, 
wait for the full day of God's perfect love, and 
perfect glory. 

He w^aits watchfully. 

He is yet in a world of sin and temptation. He 
dare not sleep, lest he should be caught sleeping 
and be shorn of his strenaili. He watches as^ainst 
his own heart, the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
longing for the holy light which shall chase away 
every thing that hurts or deceives ; when lust, 
and wrong, and sin of every sort, shall retire, like 
the wild beasts of the forest to their dens. He is 
not safe until the perfect day, and therefore he 
watches until the day. His Master's command is : 
'' Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation," 
and he obeys it. 

Thou2;h it is nio;ht, God has g-iven him work to 



142 THE CONDUCT OF 

do until morning. Tlie Evangelist, speaking of 
tlie Gospel, says : " The light shineth in darkness, 
and the darkness comprehended it not" (John i. 
5). The Gospel is light, compared to the darkness 
of sin and ignorance which covers the world. 
The apostle Peter, in the nse of the same figure, 
declares that Christians are called to " show forth 
the praises (the energies) of him who hath called 
them out of darkness into his marvellous light" 
(1 Peter ii. 9). Our Master had before said to his 
disciples, '' Ye are the light of the world" (Matt. 
v. 14). Xay, the Wisdom had revealed to the 
Old Testament saint, that " the path of the just is 
as the shining light, that shineth more and more 
unto the perfect day" (Pro v. iv. 18). The believer 
even now has a measure of light to cheer him, to 
guide him (Ephes. v. 8), and to distinguish him as 
" a child of the day" (1 Thess. v. 5). Therefore 
is he " not to sleep as do others, but to watch and 
be sober," '' putting on the breast-plate of faith 
and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation." 
He is to let his light so shine before men, that 



THE PENITENT. 143 

tliey may see his good \yorks, and glorify his Father 
which is in heaven (Matt. v. 16). In other words, 
he is so to love and labour for the cause of Christ, 
that men may, by God's blessing upon his zeal, be 
led to prepare for the great and terrible day of the 
Lord. 

Besides, his desire will not suffer him to sleep. 
He hopes for the fullness of his joy, nor can he, 
from the very pleasure of the expectation, close his 
eyes in spiritual slumber. He expects in the 
morning the coming of his best Friend ; how can 
his loving heart rest from the uneasiness of so joy- 
ous a hope ? He expects that then his prison 
doors will be opened, and he be free to walk 
abroad in perfect liberty ; how can the captive 
sleep in the night before his complete emancipa- 
tion? He expects that in the morning he shall 
reach his happy and eternal home ; what wonder 
that he wakefully pursues his heaven-lighted path ? 

He waits constantly. 

There is not a moment that he is not in danger 
of surprise from sin ; and, therefore, like a watch- 



144 THE CONDUCT OF 

ful sentinel, lie is ever on the alert. There is not 
a moment when he has not work to do for his 
Master, w4ien his light ought not to be shining 
before men, and his Christian character made 
manifest, that God may be glorified. At all times 
his heart is burning with desire for more and more 
manifestations of the Divine love. His hope is for 
perfect holiness, for heaven, for immortality in the 
presence of God ; and he can never cease longing 
until his satisfaction is complete. 

Nor can he tell at vrhat moment God will appear 
to his soul. God often works mysteriously, though 
ever wisely. He withholds his sensible presence 
for a season,, to try his people's faith and constancy. 
The times of our spiritual joys on earth, and the 
time of our complete emancipation by death from 
all earth's trials, He keeps in his own hand and 
power. Therefore must the true penitent be ever 
found in the use of the means, ever prepared for 
the Lord's coming, ever expecting his avffiil and 
joyous presence. 

He watches through the long night ! He does 



THE PENITENT. 145 

not give over in despair, nor become weary througli 
disappointment. He knows that the day will break. 
The stars of promise above him, shining down 
through the dim atmosphere, prove to him that 
the Sun from whom they derive their light is 
shining, though he has not yet risen above the 
horizon. Soon He will arise and bring the perfect 
day. Every gleam of spiritual comfort encourages 
him with new hopes of his Master's grace *and 
glory. 

He waits with ardour, 

God in Christ has now become all in all to 
his soul. He loves him with his whole heart, and 
he is impatient of every sin or doubt that hinders- 
him from giving up his whole being to his Lord. 

His whole happiness now is in the Divine favour, 
and he ardently longs until God, having transform- 
ed him to a nobler nature, will pour out that favour 
without measure upon him. 

The tastes of the Divine goodness, and the 
glimpses of the Divine beauty, that he has had, 
and has increasingly, ravish him from the sinful 
13 



146 THE CONDUCT OF 

pleasures and cares of this world, and set liis whole 
soul on flame, as it were, for a full fruition. If 
such be the first fruits, what must be the full vint- 
age ? If the light of promise be so sweet, what 
must be the glory of the perfect day ? 

Thus does the penitent believer long for the 
Lord, " more than they that long for the morn- 
inof." 

'' In all this, see what the conduct of the true 
■penitent is : 

1. Religion rules his whole life. 

He is ever waiting for the Lord. Not like 
those w^ho, having been roused to a sense of their 
dang-er, seek but to stupify their consciences, and 
having cheated themselves with some imaginary 
safety, relapse into" sin and thoughtlessness. jSTot 
like those, who occasionally, as just before a com- 
munion day, affect an unwonted piety, as though a 
work of special devotion could make amends for 
aiionths of lukewarmness. JSTor even like those, 
who, content with regular prayers or religious 
meetings, are only religious when engaged in im- 



THE PENITENT. 147 

mediate devotion. Religion is his constant, cliarac- 
teristic walk. He waits for the Lord at all times, 
in all places, and in all circumstances. His con- 
tinual effort is to know, to obey, and to glorify 
God. This is his sole aim, his only business, his 
great delight. 

2. The word of the Lord is his only stay. 

There he learns what God is, and he never 
allows himself to mingle any imaginations of his 
own, or of other men, with the character God has 
revealed of himself. There he learns how God is 
gracious and forgiving, and never mingles any sup- 
posed merit of his own with the righteousness of 
Christ, whom God has appointed to be a Prince 
and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission 
of sins. There he learns what God would have 
him to do, and he never mingles his own views of 
what is right, or the world's opinion of duty, with 
the Divine directions. God is his sole master. To 
His service he has consecrated himself, and His 
word he obeys. There he reads the evidences of 
conversion, which God has declared to be true and 



148 THE CONDUCT OF 

sufficient, and in faith upon God's simple promises 
tlirougli Clirist Jesus, lie casts himself, by the 
grace of the Holy Ghost wholly upon God. 

3. He is never satisfied with any degree of re- 
ligious attainment in this life. His hope is set 
upon heaven, upon the perfect redemption, and the 
perfect holiness promised to him there. So in this 
preparatory state, he is always endeavouring to ap- 
proach nearer and nearer to the character of 
heaven, in knowledge, in love, and in holiness. He 
patiently waits for his deliverance, while he ar- 
dently longs for the day, when he will be complete 
in the glory radiating from the face of God his 
Sa\dour, and ^' upon all the glory there shall be a 
defence" (Is. iv. 5) from sin, temptation, doubt, 
and sorrow. He may have his moments of anx- 
iety, sadness and gloom, because he is still com- 
passed about Avith the body of sin and death, still 
living in a polluted and seductive world, still ex- 
posed to the machinations of the evil one, but the 
conduct of his life is " waitino; for the Lord." 



THE PENITENT. 149 

In what sad contrast to this is tlie condition of 
those who hve " without God and without hope !" 
to whose impenitent souls, the idea of God is 
painful, because they know him only as an angry 
Judge, and death terrible as the termination of 
all their enjoyments, and the beginning of their 
eternal woe ! In vain they strive to drown the 
alarms of conscience by the occupations of busi- 
ness, the delirium of pleasure, or the sophisms of 
infidelity. They cannot altogether, or at all times, 
escape from the dreadful forebodings which a sense 
of their sin, and the declarations of the Divine 
word, force upon them. There are silent, lonely 
moments, when, like the devils, they "believe a,nd 
tremble ;" nay, apprehensions of Divine venge- 
ance reach them . in the midst of their worldly 
pride and exultation ; the sword hangs over their 
heads at the feast ; horrible spectres meet them in 
the dance ; their wealth aggravates their bitterness, 
because they cannot keep it for ever, nor will it 
save them from the dreadful account, when thej 

13* 



150 THE CONDUCT OF 

must suffer tlie more because of its abuse ; wMle 
tbey listen to tlieir flatterers, a secret oracle within 
tliem pronounces them fools, Avbose soul in a 
moment may be required of tbem. Too well 
taugbt to disbelieve the retributions of eternity, 
yet too much in love with sin to give up its pursuit, 
they lose the enjoyment of this world through fear 
of the next, and pass from a life of anxiety to the 
reality which they dreaded, but would not escape 
from. There remains to them '' a certain, fearful 
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, 
which shall devour the adversaries" of God and 
his law (Heb. x. 27). "There is no peace, saith 
my God, to the wicked" (Is. Ivii. 21); but es- 
pecially none for those who know the truth, yet 
will not obey it. The God, who smiles upon the 
penitent, is to them " a consuming fire ; " the 
Saviour, upon whom the believer leans, is their 
avenging enemy ; the Gospel, that speaks glad 
tidings to the humble seeker, only confirms their 
eternal ruin ; and already, in tormenting anticipa- 



THE PENITENT. 161 

tion of tlieir doom, they see lieaven afar off, across 
a gulf tliey cannot pass. 0, that they might yet 
turn and seek the Lord, if, peradventure, they yet 
may have life ! 



VIIL 



THE EXHORTATION OF THE PENITENT. 



" Let Israel liope in tlie Lord : for witli the 
Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous 
redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all 
his iniquities." 

What a surprising change has been wrought in 
our penitent ! He, whom we found " in the 
depths," " crying " for deliverance, is now so con- 
fident of safety, that he becomes the teller of good 
news to all sorrowful, sin-troubled souls, exhorting 
them to hope in the same grace, wherein he stands 
(Rom. V. 2). 

Critics tell us, that when this psalm was used in 

153 



154 THE EXHORTATION OF 

the Temple sendee, tliese last two verses were, 
probably, sung as a response by the priest, who 
thus called upon the whole congregation to profit 
from the story of the grateful penitent. Be this as 
it may, there is no need, for our purposes, of in- 
troducing another speaker than the penitent him- 
self. They describe the spirit and language of 
every true convert from sin unto God. Every 
rescued sinner is born into the Spirit of God, God 
the Father, God the Son, and God the *Holy Ghost, 
the God of salvation, who is " not willing that any 
should perish, but that all should come to repent- 
ance" (2 Peter iii. 9) ; and, therefore, he earnestly 
desires the salvation of all sinners like himself, 
tells them of the mercy which he has found, and 
endeavours to bring them to that Jesus, who has 
healed his soul. Such regard to the best good of 
others, is a necessary evidence of his being a child 
of God, a follower of Christ, and a temple of the 
Holy Ghost ; of God, who gave his only begotten 
Son ; of Christ, who lived, and died, and rose 



THE PENITENT. 155 

again ; of tlie Holy Ghost, whose almiglity ener- 
gies are put forth for the salvation of sinners. 

The true penitent is moved to this zeal for the 
salvation of his fellow sinners by love for their souls. 
He sees the guilt and danger which they are in, 
for he has been himself in the same depths. He 
has been made to feel how dreadful a thing it is to 
sin against God, the terribleness of the Divine 
wrath, and the impossibility of escape from its 
eternal consequences after the present day of mercy 
has gone by. The insensibility of impenitent men 
to their true condition, alarms and distresses him ; 
for, so long as they remain thus wilfully blind and 
careless of their souls, he has no hope of their 
rescue. He trembles as he thinks of their utter 
ruin, and the agonies of their eternal death. Com- 
mon humanity pities the peril or suffering of a 
fellow creature, and will strive, if possible, to avert 
it ; what then must be the compassion and solici- 
tude of a Christian heart for an immortal soul, 
sleeping unconcerned on the brink of endless and 
unspeakable anguish ! 



156 THE EXHORTATION OF 

At the same time lie knows the readiness, the 
sufficiency, and the preciousness of God's mercy in 
Christ Jesus to save even to the uttermost. He 
has had sweet experience of the riches of grace in 
his own soul. He has felt the power of the Sa- 
viour's arm in uplifting him from the depths of his 
despair, the cleansing efficacy of the Saviour's • 
blood in washing away all his guilt, and the sanc- 
tifying virtue of the Saviour's Spirit in turning his 
affections to God, in filling his soul with holy 
thought, and in bringing him to a sweet, reverent, 
and confiding " fellowship with the Father, and 
with his Son Jesus Christ." He is yet a sinner, 
and every moment he has occasion for fresh re- 
pentance ; but every moment he may apply by 
faith the blood of sprinkling and of peace, to his 
conscience. He is yet weak, altogether insufficient 
of himself for any good thing ; but he has an 
Almighty Helper, who strengthens him from on 
high to resist temptation, to bear his burden 
meekly, and to d® his Master's will. He is yet 
corrupt, and " sin dwelleth in him," but the pro- 



THE PENITENT. 157 

cess of sanctification is begun in his heart ; there 
is a resistless energy there, not his own, battling 
with, and, in sure progress, overcoming his un- 
belief and proneness to sin, the earnest of an ulti- 
mate, entire deliverance ; and, above all, he has 
hope in God's covenant-promise of an eternal 
heaven, where none of his sin, and weakness, and 
corruption can follow him, but where, in perfect 
holiness, pure joy, and immortal vigour, he shall 
serve God with his entire nature, and be filled with 
the delight of God's presence, love, and approval. 
As he rejoices in this experience of Divine grace, 
so free and so boundless, he earnestly longs that 
others, who are yet " in the depths," may be raised 
up to be partakers with him of the same salvation. 
There is enough for all. Thousands may come and 
drink in eternal life from these waters, and yet 
there be none the less. The love of God in his 
heart has expanded it to a largeness of affection, 
which would embrace all in that blessedness which 
he enjoys. Every motive that bids man love his 
neighbour, urges the Christian, with a force un- 
14 



158 THE EXHORTATION OF 

speakable, to seek tlie eternal good of Ms fellow 
sinner. 

The true penitent is moved to zeal for the sal- 
vation of others, hy love for his own soul. He 
desires assurance of his own interest in Christ ; 
and the Holy Ghost instructs him, that he must 
make his calling and election sure by fi'uitfulness 
in good works. For, says the beloved disciple, 
" he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself 
also so to walk, even as he walked" (1 John ii. 6). 
And how did Christ walk? Was it not in the 
entire consecration of Himself to the salvation of 
men's souls, by his teaching, by his example, by 
his righteous life, and atoning death ; nay, since he 
has risen again, by his continual intercession and 
royal power ! It is, therefore, only while like 
Christ he is endeavouring to save men's souls, that 
he is sure of being in the way to eternal life, the 
way by which Jesus, the Forerunner, has passed 
into heaven for us. He desires to grow in grace, 
and in the knowledge and joy of faith, and the 
Holy Ghost instructs him, that grace is not given 



THE PENITENT. 159 

to the idle (Prov. xix. 15), but that " God meeteth 
liim tliat rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness'^ (Isa. 
Ixiv. 5) ; nay, that according to the testimony of 
Christ's own experience, the doing of God's will is 
itself as meat and drink for the nourishment of the 
soul (John iv. 32-34). Indeed, he finds in faithful 
practice, that mercy to others is a sure way, by 
Divine blessing, of receiving larger mercy for him- 
self ; that, as he teaches others, God teaches him ; 
as he comforts others, God comforts him ; as he 
prays for others, the blessing returns upon his own 
head ; and, as he sows the seed of good works by 
a holy husbandry, the spiritual exercise gives to 
his soul a more healthful strength, a better appetite 
for the bread of life, while it secures an abundant 
harvest of holy fruit. 

In these Christian labours, his thoughts, so apt 
to wander in sin, are fixed upon better purposes ; 
his hands, so apt to busy themselves in sin, are oc- 
cupied with pious deeds ; and his time, so apt to 
be wasted upon the trifles, and worse than trifles, 
of the world, is more than filled up with opportu- 



160 THE EXHORTATION OF 

nities of good, whicli increase in number and rich.- 
ness as lie improves them. What Christian, who 
has thus served the souls of his fellow sinners, will 
not gladly testify, that in seeking to do them good, 
to enlighten their darkness, to refute their scepti- 
cism, to remove their doubts, and to help them 
out of their difficulties, he has found his own faith 
strengthened, his own temptations subdued, and 
his own comforts more abundant ? Who are they, 
that in the Church of God walk with uplifted head, 
cheerful countenance and steady progress, but those 
who do, or endeavour to do, the most good to the 
souls of others ? On the contrary, they, upon 
whom the world exerts its worst influence, upon 
whose ear the word of God falls with the least 
effect, whose relio;ion seems rather a restraint than 
a privilege, are those who do the least, pray the 
least, and give the least for the salvation of 
others. 

He desires the rewards of eternal life. He has 
been too well taught by the Spirit of God, to be- 
lieve that he can purchase an entrance into heaven 



THE PENITENT. 161 

by his own good works, or that its glorious joy 
can be won by any less price than the infinite 
merit of Christ his Saviour; but, at the same time, 
he reads that it is part of God's gracious purpose 
in the enconomy of grace, to allow no good deed 
of his servant, though it be no more than giving 
a cup of cold water, to be without its wages (Matt. 
X. 42. xxv) ; nay, that, according to our fidelity 
now, shall be our dignity hereafter ; for, while "the 
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, 
they that turn many to righteousness shall be as 
stars in that firmament for ever and ever" (Daniel 
xii. 3). Of all the services we can render to men, 
the greatest is that of assisting them in the salva- 
tion of their souls. Success in this highest effort 
of charity, was the joy which the Master set before 
himself (Heb. xii. 2), and into which every faithful 
servant shall enter with him (Matt. xxv. 21). It is 
God's greatest work and greatest glory to save sin- 
ners, and his best rewards are for those who are 
most like himself. Therefore, as the Christian soul 
desires heaven, so will he desire to take others with 
14^ 



162 THE EXHORTATION OF 

him there. Tims is doing good to men's souls 
vitally connected with his best interest, his highest 
pleasure, and his holiest hope. 

There is a yet stronger motive, the one, indeed, 
that gives strength to those already named, which 
excites the true penitent's zeal for the salvation of 
his fellow sinners : The glory of his God. The 
first conviction of the Christian on perceiving the 
mercy of God to his soul, is, that he is not his 
" OT\Ti," but "bought with a price" (1 Cor. vi. 19, 
20), belonging to his faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. 
As the creature of God, sustained by God's power 
and supported by his bounty, a subject of God's 
laws and responsible at God's judgment seat, he 
belongs unto God ; but until he was awakened 
from his sin by the Spirit of Christ, his soul was 
dead to every sense of such obligation. IS^ow the 
love of God in Christ " constrains him," and he 
resolves with delight "to live not unto himself, but 
unto him who died for him, and who rose again" 
(2 Cor. V. 14, 15). He acknowledges himself as 
twice the Lord's, by creation and redemption. In 



THE PENITENT. 163 

the greatness of that love of God wMcli pitied him 
in his sins, and determined to save him ; the great- 
ness of the provision made in the person and work 
of Christ for his eternal welfare ; the greatness of 
that spiritual Power, which, in long suffering pa- 
tience, bore with and overcame the obstinacy of 
his impenitence, and shed light and life supernatu- 
ral through his soul; and the greatness of the 
change from his condemnation to eternal death, 
unto heirship of eternal life, he reads the claims 
which God has upon his whole heart, his whole 
time, his whole energy. Therefore he confesses 
himself wholly the Lord's, and determines to do 
all that he does to the glory of God (1 Cor. x. 31). 
This is the reality of conversion to God, the genu- 
ine repentance which has the promise of life; and 
all change, less than this, comes short of repentance. 
The Scriptures abundantly show us, that such 
entire consecration to God, does not forbid, but is 
every way consistent with, love and service to our 
fellow men, and endeavours to secure our own per- 
sonal happiness. The same law, which requires us 



164 THE EXHORTATION OF 

to love our neiglibour as ourselves, commands us 
to love God with all our hearts. The same Gospel, 
which insists upon our glorifying God with our 
bodies and spirits which are his, proposes the re- 
wards of heaven as motives to our zeal. But it is, 
because the love of God includes and sanctifies all 
other warranted love and aims, that, while we love 
our neighbours as ourselves, while we love our own 
souls, and strive to secure their and our own salva- 
tion, the glory of God should be our chief pur- 
pose and paramount motive. It is the recognition 
of this principle, which alone can secure a Chris- 
tian's steadfastness in duty, amidst the seeming 
conflict of human interests, prevent him from being 
led astray by lower and base motives, or encourage 
him to perseverance until the end, notwithstanding 
the opposition and enmity, and even persecution, 
of those whom he seeks to serve. If his aim be 
not high as the throne of God, he will prove weak, 
wavering, and easily disgusted with the painful but 
only path, by which we can reach glory, honour, 
and immortality, " patient continuance in well 



THE PENITENT. 165 

doing." When lie feels that God is Ms master, 
whose law is perfect, and whose promises of re- 
ward are sure, the world's seductions, ridicule, or 
hatred, will be alike powerless. 

Then, as he belongs to God, his question is : 
" What will the Lord have me to do ?" in what 
manner has God declared I may serve him most 
acceptably ? and the answer to this is readily 
learned from God's holy word. What purpose of 
God in his providence toward this world, is para- 
mount over all others ? The salvation of sinners 
by Jesus Christ, his Son. What work of God has 
he wrought at the vastest expense, and by the 
mightiest instrumentality? The salvation of sin- 
ners by Jesus Christ, his Son. Wliat was the aim 
of Christ, when upon earth he set a Divine example 
of human duty ? The salvation of sinners. What 
is the office of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of the 
Father and of the Son? The conversion and 
sanctification of sinners by Christ. What is the 
employment of the angelic host of the Son of 
God? They are "all ministering spirits, sent 



166 THE EXHORTATION OF 

fortli to minister for tliem who shall be heirs of 
salvation" (Heb. i. 14). What was the great 
command of Christ to the apostolic representatives 
of his Cluirch ? To preach the Gospel of salvation 
to sinners. To what service does God propose 
the hio'hest rewards in heaven? As we have 
already seen, zeal for the salvation of sinners. What 
are the means which God employs in carrying on 
this great work of his in this world ? Christian 
example, Christian prayers, and Christian activity 
in the diffusion of truth. 

The Christian's dufy is, therefore, very clear. 
It is to consecrate all that he has, all that he is, 
and all that by God's grace he can be, to the glory 
of God in the salvation of his fellow sinners ; be- 
cause that is the work which God himself most 
delights in, which He commands him to perform, 
and from which He wdll have his chiefest glory. 
The love of Christ to his own soul, thus constrains 
him to live for the souls of others, and he accounts 
it his highest privilege, that he is permitted to em- 
ploy his energies in so glorious, dignifying, and 



THE PENITENT. 167 

enriclimg a work, as persuading, by God's grace, 
those who are dead in trespasses and sins to live 
for the glory of God here, and, escaping from 
eternal death, glorify God in an eternal blessed- 
ness. Thus is he a worker together with God the 
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, in 
securing the salvation of dying men, his own 
eternal reward, and God's most manifold glory. 

All our observations have been so immediately 
practical, that no inferences which might be drawn 
at the close could be more so. Several lessons 
may, however, be repeated with advantage. 

No one can be a true penitent who is indif- 
ferent to the salvation of his fellow sinners. 

If he really believe in an eternal hell, he cannot 
help but feel a deep anxiety for those who are in 
danger of eternal death. Who can think of im- 
mortal souls exposed to everlasting burnings, the 
fearful weight of God's endless wrath, and not 
weep, and pray, and strive to save them ? If he 
really believe in an eternal heaven of joy, and 
truth, and holiness, freely offered through Christ to 



168 THE EXHORTATION OF 

all who will accept it by faith upon Ms promise, 
lie must desire that his fellow men may share its 
hope with him ; nor will he cease to declare the 
manifold riches of that grace which has saved his 
soul, and is ready to save theirs. 

If he really apprehended for himself the love of 
God in Christ, which, at such expense, and after 
such long suffering, lifts him up from such depths 
of sin, and guilt, and corruption, to such heights 
of purity, and favour, and holiness, he must speak 
out in the gratitude of his soul, and declare the 
riches of the grace of God, and call upon all men 
to magnify the Lord with him, and to exalt his 
name. iSTay, with the apostle, he will regard him- 
self as having obtained mercy for this cause : that 
" in him Jesus Christ mig;ht show forth all lon^ 
suffering, for a pattern to them which should here- 
after believe on him to life everlasting" (1 Tim. i. 
16). 

I charge you, therefore, before God, that you do 
not deceive yourselves with the supposition that 
you are Christians, if you be not diligently and 



THE PENITENT. 169 

earnestly engaged in doing good to men's souk. 
Your opportunities may be various, some greater, 
and some less ; but no one is without opportunities 
for this work, to which you are called. To he idle 
is to he dead ; dead to the best interests of those 
around you ; dead to the hope of eternal reward ; 
dead to the love of the glory of God. 

Wo converted sinner can ever do enough for 
God in this work of saving men's souls. 

While a single sinner remains unconverted, or 
a single saint imperfectly sanctified, there is work 
to be done, a great work, and a glorious work. 
That one soul, more precious than a world or a 
universe of matter, must suffer or enjoy immor- 
tally. Think, my reader, if the whole of mankind 
were become Christians, except one poor impeni- 
tent, what a power of sympathy, and prayer, and 
effort, would be turned toward his salvation ; but 
now, while many around us, while millions of our 
race are perishing through sin, while even in the 
circle of your friends, perhaps your very house- 
hold, there are those who are without God, how 
15 



170 THE EXHORTATION OF 

cold is Christian zeal, how feeble and how few are 
Christian prayers, how meagre, and how reluctant 
are Christian gifts for the cau#;e of salvation ! 

Christ has bought our whole life. We were 
utterly lost without his salvation ; all we have is 
his by purchase, and by gift. We have no right 
to keep any thing back from him. All is His, 
and we are dishonest, as well as ungrateful, if we 
do less, or pray less, or give less than we possibly 
can for him. What did he keep back from us, 
when he gave Himself, all the riches of his divini- 
ty, all the perfection of his humanity, for us? 
What has He not done for us, when He began in 
eternity the purpose of our salvation, and in his 
life upon earth, went continually about doing 
good, suffering wrong, and working out our salva- 
tion, even until death ? WTiat did He not give for 
us, when though "he was rich, for our sakes he 
became poor, that we through his poverty might 
be rich" (2 Cor. viii. 9) ? How has He prayed for 
us, who, in the far eternity, cried : " Deliver from 
going down to the pit : I have found a ransom" 



THE PENITENT. l7l 

(Job xxxiiL 24)? "Who, in the days of liis flesh, 
offered up prayers and supplications with strong 
crying and tears" (Heb. v. 7) ; and who, since his 
ascension, " ever liveth to make intercession for 
us" (Heb. vii. 25)? Cly-istian, how can we put any 
limit to our labours, our gifts, our prayers, in His 
service ? 

Each hour of our Christian life increases our 
obligations to him, for long suffering with our re- 
maining sin, for fresh grace to resist temptation, 
endure trial, and do our work ; for new knowledge 
of Christian doctrine, new manifestations of 
Divine favour, new expectations of eternal life ; 
for repeated and increasing opportunities of use- 
fullness, with grace to improve them. Therefore, 
so far from becoming weary in well-doing, or pray- 
ing, or giving for the good cause of salvation, 
every hour should find our zeal in all these means 
enlarging and more cheerful. Our first love 
should be warm, but each day it should be war- 
mer ; and our light " shining brighter and brighter, 
unto the perfect day." 



172 THE EXHORTATION OF 

True repentance is a most practical tiling. It 
lies not in tears and regrets, thoiigli well may we 
weep over the past ; nor in ecstacies and promises, 
though well may we rejoice, and resolve upon a 
better obedience ; but it is to be seen, by the 
Divine grace of the Holy Spirit, in our active use- 
fullness, in a resemblance to the God of mercy,- 
and in a following of Christ, the Saviour of sin- 
ners. 

It rules the w^hole conduct ; not merely in our 
prayers, or other devotional services, or Sundays, 
or our hours of religious thought ; but always, in 
all that we do, in the house or by the way, in our 
business or our rest, consecrating us entirely to the 
glory of God, in serving our fellow sinners. 

It is operative through our whole lives; not 
merely in the distresses which usually accompany 
conversion, but more and more powerful the Ion 
ger we live, the more we experience of Divine 
grace, and the nearer we approach to heaven. 
Even then, though the sorrows of repentance shall 
be over, the fruits of repentance will abound in an 



THE PENITENT. l73 

unending and constant service of Him wlio sits 
upon the tlirone. 

Happy tliey, who, in such repentance, have the 
earnest of eternal life ! But, Oh ! let us remember 
the awful reverse : " Except ye repent, ye shall all 
likewise perish 1" 



12^ 



IX. 

THE EXHORTATION OF THE PENITENT. 

(continued) 



" Let Israel hope in the Lord : for with the 
Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous 
redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all 
his iniquities," 

These verses describe, not only, as we have seen, 
the earnest desire of every true penitent for the 
salvation of his fellow sinners, to which he is moved 
by his regard for their souls, his own soul, and the 
glory of God ; but also the language of his whole 
life, which is a continual exhortation to faith in 

175 



176 THE EXHORTATION OF 

God, as the God of salvation. This may "be farther 
opened hj considering : 

Whom he exhorts ; ivhat he exhorts them to ; 
and how he exhorts them. 

First : Whom he exhorts. 

IsroA, " Let Israel hope," &c. 

Secondly : What he exhorts them to. 

" Hojpe in the Lord ;" for the several reasons 
assigned. 

Thirdly : How he exhorts them. 

This v>^e may gather from the tenor of the psalm, 
and from other Scriptures. 

First : "WTiom he exhorts. " Let Israel hope in 
the Lord." 

When the psalm was v\'ritten, the covenant of 
God's mercy was, as yet, revealed only to the chil- 
dren of Abraham, Israel according to the flesh. 
" The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
the world" (John i. 29), was not made fully mani- 
fest until the fullness of times (Gal. iv. 4), when 
that dispensation began, which is to " gather to- 
gether in Christ all things in heaven and in earth" 



THE PENITENT. l77 

(Ephes. i. 10), and, especially, to make Jews and 
Gentiles one by the body of Christ upon the cross 
(Ephes. ii. 13-16); since which enlargement of 
the Pivine mercy, all who are Christ's, and only 
they, whether Jews or Gentiles, are "Abraham's 
seed, and children according to the promise" (Gal. 
iii. 28, 29), The ancient believer, therefore, when 
he exhorted to faith in God, and obedience to his 
commandments, addressed himself to Israel, who 
had the law and the promises (Rom. iii. 2). 

Upon the same principle, the Christian believer 
exhorts the true spiritual Israel, even all those who 
receive by faith that Gospel of salvation which is 
preached unto every creature (Luke xxiv. 47), 
God's most holy " Church" (Ephes. i. 23). 

It is, however, but too evident from the sacred 
narrative, that, under the former dispensation, " all 
were not Israel, that were called Israel" (Eom. ix. 
6). Often the whole nation, with exceptions so 
few as to be scarcely discernible, went into idola- 
try ; even when there was no such open lapse, and 
the people externally worshipped according to thti 



1Y8 THE EXHORTATION OF 

covenant, there were very many wliose " hearts 
were not right toward God," and who had no 
genuine faith in the law or the promises. An ex- 
hortation addressed to Israel, was not, therefore, 
necessarily, confined to the pious among them ; 
but we hear the prophets often calling upon Israel 
to repent and turn unto the Lord, and rebuking 
them for their ungrateful and perilous impiety. In 
the verses before us, the whole congregation of 
Israel, assembled for the temple worship, are ex- 
horted to hope in the Lord. It is then the proper 
interpretation of the text, to consider the true 
penitent as exhorting the people of God to hope in 
the Lord ; and not only them, but all those also 
whom he desires to become God's people ; all 
who, having the Gospel in their hands, or sound- 
ing in their ears, know, and ought to pursue, the 
way of salvation. 

The Christian penitent exhorts the people of 
God, because they are subject to many trials, 
which bear hard upon their faith, and many temp- 
tations and infirmities, which expose them to sin. 



THE PENITENT. l79 

It is Ms duty to comfort liis believing brethren 
with sucli gracious words of encouragement (1 
Thess. iv. 18 ; v. 11), and to exhort them " daily, 
lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of 
sin" (Heb. iii. 13). This is one of the great ends 
of Christian fellowship ; for we are " members one 
of another" (Rom. xii. 5), that we may have a 
tender sympathy and common interest. God 
gives each his individual experience of grace, not 
for himself alone, but that he may share his lessons 
of profit with his brethren in Christ ; and, indeed, 
next to the word of God itself, the Holy Spirit 
uses no means more efficiently for our Christian 
edification, than the counsel of fellow Christians 
from their own heart history. It is when we know 
how they have been comforted under sorrow, made 
victorious over temptation, and, with infirmities 
like our own, carried forward by Divine grace, 
that we are encouraged to trust in the same al- 
mighty strength, which has made them strong. 
The Christian has a personal interest in the edifi- 
cation of his fellow Christians. It re-acts upon 



180 THE EXHORTATION OF 

his own. For one member of Christ cannot 
prosper or suffer, without the other members 
prospering or suffering with it. Their prayers, 
their example, their counsel, bless him in return. 
We are sympathetic beings, and Christianity does 
not destroy our nature, but uses it for our good. 
It is natural that we be stronger when others are 
strono' around us, that we be more zealous when 
others are zealous, more prayerful when others are 
prayerful. AVhen we are indifferent to the spiritual 
profit of our brethren, no wonder that we grow 
cold to our own best good. For, as the apostle 
says : " The whole body fitly joined together, and 
compacted by that which every joint supplieth, 
accordino; to the effectual worldno; in the measure 
of every part, maketh increase of the body unto 
the edifying of itself in love" (Ephes iv. 16). 

It is also to the Church that God has committed 
the instrumentality, which is to manifest his glory 
unto the world. They are " the lights of the 
world" (Matt. v. 14), like stars in the night, 
deriving their radiance from the great Sun of 



THE PENITENT. 181 

Eigliteousness, whom they see, but the world does 
not. They are the " salt of the earth," purifying 
and preserving it from greater corruption, to which 
it is constantly prone. But if the light grow dim, 
or the " salt lose its savour," where are the hopes 
of the world ? Hence you find the great stress of 
the apostles' preaching, like that of the Master's, 
was not to unconverted men, but to disciples. If 
the spiritual welfare of Christians be secured, the 
conversion of sinners is certain. It is for this 
reason, that we call those precious seasons in 
which many are turned unto God, revivals of re- 
ligion. Religion is not revived in the heart of the 
recent convert ; it never existed there before ; but 
the revival of Christian zeal, which had grown 
cold, is the occasion and means of increased con- 
version to Christ from the world. Perhaps it is a 
mistake of modern piety, to be directing its ener- 
gies so exclusively and immediately to the conver- 
sion of the impenitent. This, though a grand 
duty, is not our only or paramount duty. The 
edification of those already in the Church, the 
16 



182 THE EXHORTATION OF 

_2!:uarding of the young, tlie reclaiming of tlie wan- 
dering, tlie comforting of the discouraged, the 
gentle rebuke of the erring, and hearing with the 
weak, are the more effectual ways of accomplishing 
a general good. Every Christian, whose zeal is 
successful in reviving our piety, becomes, by God's 
grace, our cheerful and efficient fellow labourer. 
In his life, we have a new testimony to the power 
of God's grace ; in his prayers, a new reason to 
expect the Divine blessing ; and in his liberality, 
new means to carry forward the work of God. 
Therefore it is, that the Holy Spirit insists so 
much upon Christians helping, exhorting, and 
sustaining one another. For if one member of the 
body be sick, the health of the whole fails ; if one 
be deformed, the beauty of its symmetry is impair- 
ed ; and if one be corrupt, the mortification will 
extend to all ; the glory of God's grace will not be 
so manifest, nor will sinners be constrained to 
render praise to his name. Tlius every true pen- 
itent exhorts God's true " Israel" to " hope in the 
Lord." 



THE PENITENT. 183 

But Ms zeal is not confined to tlie people of 
God. As was shown in the last chapter, he is 
moved to seek the conversion of men unto God by 
the love he bears to their souls, his own soul, and 
the glory of his God. He considers himself chosen 
and called to this great work of doing good to 
men, and honouring God; and that this is the 
most efiicient method, by Divine grace, of securing 
his spiritual advancement now, and his heavenly 
glory hereafter. While men remain out of God's 
Israel, they are lost, their influence is to lead 
others to death, and to dishonour God. There- 
fore, he would have all men Christians ; all par- 
takers of the blessedness he enjoys ; all labourers 
with him in the work of God ; all Christians. As 
far as eternity exceeds time, the immortal soul the 
frail perishing flesh, and the glories of heaven are 
above the agonies of hell, so far above every other 
engagement the duty of saving souls is, in his 
sight, important. 

So much as he is indebted to the grace of God 
for his own conversion and growth in grace, does 



184 THE EXHORTATION OF 

he feel himself bound to serve God in tlie great 
work of saving souls ; and, as his experience of 
religion is another, and to him the most convinc- 
ing evidence of its truth, so does he tell of God's 
grace to his own soul, not in ostentation, but 
grateful humility, that he may persuade them also 
to " taste and see that the Lord is good." In a 
word, he proves that he is Christ's, and has Christ's 
Spirit, by his following of Christ in the great work 
of salvation. 

This, however, having been treated of at large 
before, what was then said need not be repeated, 
but we may pass on to enquire, 

Secondly : What he exhorts to. 

" Let Israel hope in the Lord : for with the 
Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous 
redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all 
his iniquities." 

'''Hope in the Lord.'''* Tliis is the duty and 
privilege to Avhich the penitent exhorts all his 
fellow sinners, and he gives the several reasons 
v/hy sinners should hope in the Lord. 



THE PENITENT. 185 

He does not confine tliis hope to any one tMng 
as its object. It is simply "hope in the Lord:^'' 
yet as the Lord is the overflowing fountain of 
all good, and blessing, and life, so to hope in the 
Lord implies a confident expectation of receiving 
from the Lord all that a sinful creature needs, 
and all that a Christian should desire. 

But how may we hope in the Lord? Are we 
not sinners? Do we not deserve His wrath, who 
will not allow sin to go unpunished? How may a 
sinner hope in the Lord? 

Ah! the penitent answers; I too am a sinner, 
by nature and practice, plunged in the depths of 
sin, and guilt, and corruption ; but I cried unto 
the Lord ; I acknowledged my transgressions unto 
him, and did not hide my iniquity (Ps. xxxii. 5) ; 
for well I knew, that if He were " strict to mark 
iniquity, I could not stand ;" but blessed be his 
name! I found that there w^as ''forgiveness with 
him, that he might be feared." Therefore, I say 
unto Israel : " Hope in the Lord, for with the 
Lord there is mercy." 
16^ 



186 THE EXHORTATION OF 

The mercy of tlie Lord is tlie great argument 
with the sinner to turn unto him. This mercy 
is in Christ Jesus to all who will receive it. How 
great must have been the purpose of God to save 
sinners, when he gave his only begotten Son ? 
How ready must he be to save sinners, now that 
the rio'hteousness of Christ has been wrouodit out, 
his blood shed, and he lives to plead at the right 
hand of God foi' the salvation of sinners ? How 
perilous the condition, and dreadful the doom 
of the impenitent soul, vv'hen nothing less than 
the infinite merit and power of Christ could sufiice 
to save a single soul? AYliichever way you regard 
it, there is no argument like the mercy of God in 
Christ, to win a soul to him. Thus the Saviour 
preached, thus his apostles 2)reached, thus the 
evangelical Church of all ages has preached, and 
thus every true penitent exhorts. It is mercy that 
convicts, and mercy that converts. Never do we 
see our sin in its true light, until we see it by the 
light of the cross. What sin to rebel against a 
God so good, so merciful, and so ready to save ? 



THE PENITENT. 187 

What sin to reject sucli a Saviour, and to trample 
upon such blood ! Thus the mercy of God through 
the sufferings of Jesus, breaks the heart with con- 
viction of sin. Then mercy converts. The love 
of God in Christ draws the soul to him, and, 
amidst the agonies of conscious guilt, calls him to 
hope, assuring him that his sins may be forgiven, 
and he received as a child of God, renewed unto 
holiness, and made an heir of everlasting life. 
Pardon, sanctification, heaven, the love of God, 
and grace to serve him ; these draw the sinner, 
mourning over his sin, and despairing in his guilt, 
yet desirous of obeying God, to God in Christ. 
"Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with him there 
is mercy," says the penitent ; there is mercy, 
for I have found it, sinner that I am, yet sinner 
saved by grace. 

But the convicted sinner may reply again : 
"Yes, there is mercy, mercy for those who are 
sinners ; but is there for so great a sinner as I ? 
as I, who have no good in me, w^ho try in vain to 
do right, and sin on? as I, w^ho have abused so 



188 THE EXHORTATION OF 

mucli light, and refused so mucli grace?" Hear 
wliat tlie penitent says: With Him is "plenteous 
redemption," redemption wliicli has no limit in 
its riches or its powers; redemption infinite as the 
love of God, the merits of Christ, and the energy 
of the Holy Ghost ; not only pardon, but redemp- 
tion; for Jesus who is the Saviour, is also the 
Deliverer. He washes from sin by his blood. He 
covers the sinner by his righteousness, and He 
delivers him by his power. Plenteous redemp- 
tion — redemption for the worst, the guiltiest, the 
most inveterate sinner, who will accept it from 
Him. Plenteous redemption — redemption from 
the thrall of sin, from the corruption of our own 
natures, the temptations of the world, and the 
malice of the devil. Grace to will, grace to do, 
grace to persevere — all that the sinner needs, to 
become a new creature, is found in this plenteous 
redemption. Hope then in the Lord, with a con- 
fidence that mercy will meet every want, cover 
every infirmity, strengthen against all temptations. 
"Yes!" answers the doubtintr soul a^-ain, "there 



THE PENITENT. 189 

is mercy, plenteous redemption offered to me now : 
pardon for the past, grace for the future ; but I 
look before me, and I see all along the way 
through this world, danger and delusions, and 
temptations to moral sin. Shall I be able to 
maintain my hold upon God? Will not this 
weak heart falter in its trust, and fall from its 
hope? May I not disgrace the name of Christ, and 
come short at last?" "Nay," replies the merciful 
exhortation, "He shall redeem Israel from all his 
iniquities,'''' This was included before, when the 
redemption was declared to be plenteous ; but here 
the promise is more particular. It reaches the 
very trouble of the soul ; it removes the last doubt. 
"Iniquities" are, indeed, our worst enemies. The 
iniquities that lie, it may be, latent and dormant 
in the heart, ready to assume baleful power at 
the call of the tempter; deliverance from our- 
selves, from our weaknesses, from our corruption, 
from the deceitfulness of our hearts. It is no 
tldino-s of salvation to tell us, that we shall find 
mercy in the end, if we may be left to our own 



190 THE EXHORTATION OF 

streno'tli before the end : then we shall certainly 
Ml ; hut He, who undertook our salvation is 
almighty; the fruit of his atoning work is infinite, 
and the Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son has 
covenanted to give grace to the end, wherever He 
applies the blood of Jesus. '* He shall redeem 
Israel from all his iniquities/' In the beginning 
of the Christian life, he is our Alpha ; and in the 
end, we shall find him our Omega. Author of 
salvation, he is its Finisher. Xow the process is 
begun, and sanctification is not at once complete ; 
btit it shall be. Xow some sins may be subdued 
and other sins yet dwell in us; but ''He shall 
redeem Israel from cdl his iniquities.'- The soul 
that trusts in him, shaU have a comj^lete deliver- 
ance, an entire victory, a perfect life. Xow our 
sins rise between us and God. They impair the 
communion we should enjoy with him ; they pro- 
voke his chastening rod ; but when all iniquity 
shaU be taken away, then will God's mercy 
smile without a cloud, the holy soul drink in, pm-e 
and unmingled. the joy of his holy presence, and 



THE PENITENT. 191 

sorrow cease to wring the heart and wound the 
spirit, for there will be no use for sorrow, when 
there is an end of sin. 

Thus the penitent exhorts us to hope in God^ to 
hope in God only^ to hope in God's mercy only, 
to hope in God's mercy only through Christy and 
to hope to the end. The redemption is "with 
him," not with ourselves ; the redemption is 
"plenteous," abundant for all our want; the re- 
demption shall be complete "from all our iniqui- 
ties." 

Oh ! precious grace of God our Saviour, in 
Christ Jesus our Lord ! Now it invites us to par- 
don ; for all our life it promises us grace ; and 
then, it opens heaven, holy, joyful and high, as 
the safe rest of our souls for evermore. What 
blessedness there is in such a hope ! How gladly 
should we accept such mercy ! how confidently 
rely upon such grace ! how patiently, zealously, 
and cheerfully hold out to the end. It finds us 

IN THE DEPTHS IT EXALTS US TO THE SKIES. 



THE EXHORTATION OF THE PENITENT. 

(continued) 



RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 

How docs the penitent exliort ? 

1. By an open acknowledgment of the grace of 
God to his own sonl, a puUic 'profession of his 
faith, and hope, and joy in Christ. 

This is the design of the whole psalm. It is a 
proclamation to assembled Israel, before the whole 
congregation of worshippers, that the penitent is a 
sinner saved by grace, through faith in the Divine 
forgiveness, and that his expectation of eternal life 
is strong and confident. 

IT 193 



194 THE EXHORTATION OF 

Sucli an open confession our beloved Master re- 
quires us to make in the use of his holy sacra- 
ments, which are appointed for the purpose of 
giving us an opportunity to make a formal decla- 
ration, that we know by experience his religion is 
true, and that we solemnly separate ourselves from 
the world, to his holy service, in fellowship with 
those who bear his name. How clearly this is 
enjoined upon us as the immediate duty of every 
sincere penitent, we may learn from many Scrip- 
tures, but especially from that very strong passage 
given by several evangelists : " Whosoever, there- 
fore, shall confess me before men, him will I 
confess also before my Father which is in heaven ; 
but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will 
I also deny before my feather which is in heaven" 
(Matt. X. 32, 33). 

If you will refer to the connection in which this 
passage stands, you will find that "our Lord had 
been oiving to the twelve their first commission as 
preachers of his Gospel. He has encouraged them 
by promises, that his Spirit would be with them to 



THE PENITENT. 195 

give them hearts of courage and words of power ; 
that his providence would watch over them as his 
very precious ones, and that at the last they would 
receive an abundant, eternal reward for all their 
labours and sufferings in his cause. At the same 
time he does not hide the fact, that their office 
would be one of great peril; and that, as the 
disciples of a Master despised by the world and 
about to suffer a shameful death, they must expect 
to meet with wrong, contempt and persecution. 
But, lest any might shrink from the danger and 
death, in the face of which their confession of 
Christ was to be made, he tells them plainly, that 
he will acknowledge none to be Christians in the 
next world, who do not avow themselves to be 
Christians in this. There can be no misunder- 
standing his language. Whatever may be our 
respect for Christianity, our belief of its truth, or 
our supposed enjoyment of its comfort, unless we 
have made our religion known by any open profes- 
sion of it before men, he will declare before his 
Father in heaven that we are none of his. Now, 



196 THE EXHORTATION OF 

if such a profession was absolutely required then, 
amidst the bitter trials of the early Church, how 
much more are we bound to make it at a time 
when Christians are treated by the world with re- 
spect rather than violence ? An open profession of 
faith in Christ is, therefore, essential to Christian 
character now, and to a good hope through grace 
of the life which is to come. 

It is due to the world. As the followers of 
Christ, we are bound to seek the salvation of our 
fellow men. Nor will our desires or prayers, how- 
ever earnest, be enough ; we must make personal, 
active, zealous efforts to advance the great work. 
" He that gathereth not with Christ, scattereth 
abroad." It is equally clear, that our exertions 
should be made in the way God has appointed. 
For as we are his servants, we are bound to do his 
work in the way He chooses to have it done, and 
not in that we may think best. It pleased God in 
earlier times to make known his will by angels and 
inspired prophets, and often to confirm their testi- 
mony by striking miracles. He might, if He 



THE PENITENT. 197 

chose, in our time, send tlirougli tlie world a mul- 
titude of radiant messengers from heaven to preach 
his Gospel ; and cause us daily to see such works 
of Divine power as Moses, and Jesus, and the 
apostles wrought. But such is not his choice. 
He has completed the revelation of truth necessary 
for the salvation of the world, in the sacred canon 
of Scripture. He abundantly avouched Christian- 
ity to be his, by miracles at its beginning. He 
now employs men, themselves converted sinners, 
in the advancement of his cause. The manifest 
agency by which the world is to be brought back 
to God, is human. Christians are the " lights of 
the world," " the salt of the earth," " witnesses for 
God," " epistles of Christ," and '' temples of the 
Holy Ghost." The truth He has already given, 
repeated by their lips, diffused by their zeal, and 
illustrated by their examples, is to save the world. 
Its efficiency is from God, by the blessing of the 
Holy Ghost, but the agency is in no sense super- 
natural, except as Christians are moved, strength- 
ened and guided by the Holy Ghost, through the 

17^ 



198 THE EXHORTATION OF 

truth, wliicli has been revealed in the word of God 
alone. This agency He has promised to bless, and 
has blessed. No servants of his have been so suc- 
cessful, as humble, converted sinners, who have 
used the Gospel, relying upon its sufficiency, by 
the Divine blessing, to convert their fellow sinners. 
No miracles have been, or could be, more convinc- 
ing than the transformations wrought by that Gos- 
pel in the hearts and lives of sinful men. The 
responsibility of a world's salvation, therefore, rests 
upon those whom He has converted and called to 
be his servants in the Gospel. 

Now, is it not plain, that the faith of a Chris- 
tian, to be of use in the world, should be known ? 
and how can it be known except it be avowed ? If 
the Gospel, by Divine power, has changed his 
heart, and made his life better, how shall it have 
due credit for its sanctifying grace, except he testi- 
fies before men that he has been born of God ? If, 
rejoicing in assurance of pardon and the love of 
God, he desires to recommend the Gospel of his 
hope to his fellow sinners, how can he do so, with 



THE PENITENT. 199 

any appearance of honesty or likelihood of success, 
while he refuses to take part himself openly with 
Christ's people, and record his vows of service to 
God ? God does not give us our religion for our- 
selves alone ; but that, while it blesses us, it may 
by us bless the world. The light of hope, which 
He has kindled in our hearts, was meant to cheer 
others, and guide them in the way of truth ; how 
dare we cover it up and hide it from men's eyes ? 
The healing balm, which has given life to our 
broken hearts, should shed its fragrance all around, 
that others may be led to apply the same remedy. 
Our religion belongs to the world. We rob our 
fellow sinners so long as we keep it from them. 

If, therefore, we postpone a profession of religion, 
we are very guilty, because we trifle with the souls 
of our fellow sinners. So far as our conduct has 
an influence, we encourage them to sin on and 
neglect Christ. "We are responsible for their 
danger, it may be for their eternal ruin. None 
can tell how much good the concealed penitent 
might do, if he were an open Christian ; but it is 



200 THE EXHORTATIOX OF 

certain that lie does mucli evil as lie is. It is 
difficult to discliaro;e tlie oblio-ations of a Cliristian, 
but Christ has pledged himself to help all those 
who take up his cross ; and, until we bear it 
openly, we have no promise to lean upon, while 
our obligations are not the less that we do not 
avow ourselves Christians, because we ought to 
avow ourselves on his side. Be assured, that 
Christ, who pities the world and loves to save sin- 
ners by the instrumentality of such as we are, will 
not deal lightly Avith us, if we thus deny our aid to 
his good cause. 

It is due to the Church, To the Church, as we 
have seen, is committed the oTcat work of con- 
verting the world. The burthen of this duty is 
immense, and Christians need all the sympathy, 
comfort and encouragement under it, that they can 
receive. The greatest of all encouragements, next 
to the promise of God, is seeing the success of 
their labours in the Gospel. It was among our 
Lord's most bitter trials that he was rejected of 
men ; that when he called, none answered ; and 



THE PENITENT. 201 

that all day long he stretched forth his hand, and 
no man regarded. So does the Christian's heart 
faint in the time when few avow themselves peni- 
tents ; while there is no joy this side of heaven 
like " the joy of harvest," when the work of the 
Lord is prospering in our hands. The angels in 
the presence of God are glad over one sinner that 
repenteth ; but they have not the joy of the Chris- 
tian who has been the instrument of bringing that 
penitent out of his peril. For you, reader, the 
Church has been praying; Christians have been 
exhorting you by word and example to secure the 
salvation of your soul ; if you have received any 
good influence from religion, it has been, among 
other means, through their prayers and exertions. 
Do you owe them no return ? Should you not 
make their hearts glad by declaring that you too 
will be one of Christ's people, a witness of his 
grace, and a crown of their rejoicing ? O how 
their hearts yearn over you ! How they long and 
look for your coming out from the world, to take 



202 THE EXHORTATION OF 

your place with them at the sacramental table ! 
Shall they look again, and be again disappointed ? 
Christians have a great work to do, and there 
are but few of them to do it. They need help, 
open, honest, avowed help. Every new accession 
to their number, every fresh labourer, that comes 
in answer to their prayers for more labourers in 
the vineyard, cheers their spirits. They work 
with renewed energy, because in you they see that 
they have one opponent the less, and one fellow 
labourer more, v>diose sympathy, prayers, and 
counsel, they may count upon. Will you not 
give them help to bear their burdens, rejoice with 
them in their joy, and weep with them in their 
sorrow ? Do you not owe it to them for the 
Master's sake, w^hom they serve, and their own? 
You may think that you do sympathize with them, 
pray with them., and even labour with them in 
your concealed religion ; but they know nothing 
of what you hide from their eyes. As a secret 
friend, you are little better than an open enemy. 



TPIE PENITENT. 203 

Oh ! come out of your hiding place and make 
their hearts glad ! 

The Church has many enemies, who are con- 
tinually reviling and opposing the cause of Christ. 
Is it then, generous in you to shrink from the 
reproach which your brethren are bearing for 
their Master's sake, who bore "the contradiction 
of sinners against himself" for 3^ou? Perhaps 
the worst, certainly the most dangerous, enemies 
of the Church, are in her own bosom. You see 
how the good cause languishes from the incon- 
sistency of professors, and the malignant slanders 
of the world. You believe the Church to be right. 
You mourn over the bickerings, the uncharitable- 
ness, the worldliness of those who call themselves 
Christians. You know the testimony v/hich Chris- 
tians should give to the world. Come forward 
then and give it. Show the world, by the grace 
of Christ which is promised to you, what a Chris- 
tian is. Do you say, that you fear you yourself 
would fail in Christian duty, and perhaps bring 
dishonour upon the Christian name? Fail, you 



204 THE EXHORTATION OF 

certainly would, were you to attempt it in your 
own strengtli ; but are you not more sure to fail, 
wlien you w^ill not use tlie means appointed to 
keep you steadfast ? Christ has covenanted to be 
the strength of those who live near him, and keep 
their trust in him ; but you neither draw nigh to 
him nor rely upon him, while you refuse to follow 
him openly. Xow you do dishonour him ; you 
do impede his cause ; you are with those who 
reject, and revile, and oppose him; for though 
you take no active part in the opposition, you will 
not come out from amono; his enemies, and take 
your place among his friends. If all were to act 
as you do, there would be no Church, no Sabbath, 
no sacraments, no Christian name; and thus, so 
far as your conduct goes, you are verily guilty of 
destroying all the means of grace. 

It is due to yourself. You are not only to be- 
lieve in Christ, that you may be saved ; but to 
^huorh out your salvation with fear and trem- 
bling" (Phill. ii. 12). A profession of faith in 
Christ is not merely an entrance upon a Christian 



THE PENITENT. 205 

life, but tlie means of strengtliening and ani- 
mating ns in it. For this reason, the sacramental 
board is crowned witb bread, the emblem of 
nourishment, and wine, the emblem of joy. It is 
the means which Christ has Divinely appointed; 
and, as has been observed, yon have no right to 
expect his gracious furtherance in your endeavours 
after a hoh^ life, except you use the means of his 
appointment, any more than you can expect 
strength of body without using food and drink. 

An open profession of faith will strengthen 
your inward resolutions. You will be no longer a 
wavering, undecided thing; afraid to follow the 
world into sin, and yet afraid to avow your choice 
of better principles. Confess yourself candidly a 
servant of Christ; a weak, imperfect, sinful ser- 
vant, it may be, but an honest, well-meaning, 
well-endeavouring one. You will then have more 
respect for yourself as a religious person. You 
will feel the force of your position before the 
world; and bearing the name of Christ, you will 
be more careful, lest that holy name be abused 
18 



206 THE EXHORTATION OF 

throngli your negligence or wrong. You will 
have a thousand promises to rest upon that you 
have not now ; for every promise made to the 
Church you vrill share in. You will have the 
benefit of many thousand prayers, that you have 
not now ; for every prayer for the Church, breath- 
ed by Christians in private or public throughout 
the world, will be put up for you. You vdll have the 
sincere love, sympathy, counsel and good company 
of all God's true people ; for they will know you, 
greet you, and hold fellowship with you as one 
of Christ's family. 

The precious doctrines of Christ's incarnation, 
passion and power, are the bread of life and the 
T\dne of the kingdom to the believer in Jesus. 
Except Ave so eat his flesh and drink his blood, 
there is no life in us (John vi. 48-59) ; but these 
precious doctrines are made to pass before the 
believer in the sacrament of the supper, with pecu- 
liar clearness. He is led, as it were, to the very 
foot of the cross; he sees the body of Jesus broken 
in the breaking of the bread, and the blood of 



THE PENITENT. 207 

Jesus shed in tlie out-pouring of tlie wine ; and the 
emblems, so significantly expressive of those spir- 
itual realities, are presented to him personally, 
that partaking of them himself, he may knoY/ the 
atonement was made for him, by appropriating its 
benefits to his own soul. He is thus by faith a 
participator of Christ's grace, a member of his 
blessed body, an heir of immortal glory with 
Christ his elder Brother. Every time the sacra- 
ment is repeated, his vows are repeated, his faith 
strengthened, his hope exalted, his zeal inspired ; 
for, though he may sometimes, like the two dis- 
ciples on their way to Emmaus, walk in doubt 
and heaviness, mourning the absence of his Lord, 
he will not long be left thus, for Christ delights to 
make himself known in the breaking of bread 
(Luke xxiv. 13-32). 

Hence it is the experience of every believer, 
that a proper use of the sacramental supper, emi- 
nently contributes to his edification and Christian 
enjoyment; not because then only he relies on 
Christ, or has communion with him, (which he 



208 THE EXHORTATION OF 

may do when alone, or with the Church, or even 
w^hen in the world) ; but because at the holy 
table. there is a concentration of his privileges, a 
solemn confirmation of his faith and hope, with a 
foretaste of the heavenly feast. Therefore, he 
longs for an opportunity of meeting with Christ 
and his people at the family board; he goes in the 
strength of its refreshment many days ; and longs 
after another like season, for the renewal of his 
satisfaction; the successive sacraments marking 
successive stations, as he advances from strength 
unto strength, until he appears before God in 
Zion above (Ps. Ixxxiv. 7). 

O my friend, you need grace to subdue your 
sins, to remove your doubts, to console your sor- 
row, to assist the Church, to save the souls of 
sinners around you ; refuse not then the grace, 
which may be yours by an open profession of 
your faith in Christ at his holy table ! 

It is due to Christ. Ah ! dear reader, can we 
ever do enough for him, who has done, is still 
doing, and will do throughout eternity, so much 



THE PENITENT. 209 

for US ? If you have any faith in him, any love 
for him, you will say, that all you are and have, is 
too poor a return for his eternal, priceless love. 
It is but little at the best, that you can do for 
him ; but you can make a profession of your faith 
in him, and love to him ; and, except you do this, 
He declares that you do nothing which he will or 
can accept at your hands. Will you not render 
Him this slight service ; slight in the pains it 
costs, but precious in his sight and in its conse- 
quences ? 

Consider that it is his positive command. It is 
that acknowledgment of your allegiance to him, 
which, as the Lord of the Church, and the Master 
who has redeemed you to himself as one of his 
peculiar people, he insists upon from you. His 
design was, that thus a visible exhibition of his 
spiritual Church should be made to the world ; nor 
are we without frequent proof that the celebration 
of his dying love by his people, as they gather 
themselves among the emblems of his passion, is 
employed by the Holy Ghost as a means peculiarly 
18- 



210 THE EXHORTATION OF 

adapted to convert the careless, and peculiarly 
blessed. Not to join in it, tlien, is to witliliold 
your cooperation from the edifying service, and 
to cast oblivion over the cross. 

It is a most affectionate command. He does 
not bid us remember liis avenging power, bis 
wrath ao;ainst the wicked, or even his absolute 
right to our obedience ; but his love, the claims he 
has upon us as friends, as sinners whom he has 
saved by his devotion for us. It is not a requisi- 
tion of labor or penance, but of love to Him in 
the enjoyment of his love to us. It is an invita- 
tion to sit with Him and his people in close confi- 
dential fellowship at a feast of love ; to receive 
upon our own souls the application of his saving 
grace ; to join ourselves to him in an everlasting 
covenant, closely, vitally, as the members of a 
living body are united to its living head. He 
declares that he delio-hts in havino- us near him, 
in holding familiar conversation with us, in im- 
parting to us his truth, like heavenly bread, in 
pouring out to us his joy, like the wine of God's 



THE PENITENT. 211 

vineyard, and in giving us foretastes of the ever- 
lasting feast wliicli he has prepared for the re- 
deemed above. 

Death is ever solemn, and few are so insensible 
as not to listen attentively when the dying speak, or 
not to consider their wishes then expressed, as pe- 
culiarly binding ; but our best and truest Friend 
gave us this command when He saw the hour ap- 
proaching in which he vv^ould die the bitterest, 
shamefuUest death that ever wrung a mortal body 
or an immortal spirit, to deliver us from eternal 
death, and open for us life everlasting by his own 
extreme anguish and humiliation. It is the special 
service, which He ordained with his latest breath, 
for the perpetuation of his memory by the friends 
he left on earth, when he ascended to heaven. 

The Lord of glory offers to acknowledge you, 
sinner and child of the dust as you are ; will you 
not acknowledge the Lord of glory ? He shrank 
from no trials, that he might purchase the right to 
offer you salvation; will you not undertake the 
honourable trials of an open Christian life for 



212 THE EXHORTATION OF 

Him ? It may bring upon you some reproaclies 
from a wicked world, but Oh ! what shame and 
contempt He bore for you ! Do you not desire to 
be one of that blessed, sbinino; tbrono*, who shall 
stand around his throne, and bless his name with 
harp and hallelujah for ever ? Yet you hear that 
He says, he will deny you before his Father, if you 
deny him by not confessing him before men. 

You owe it to Christ. He enjoins this pro- 
fession on you for the love he bears to dying» 
sinners, whom you should lead to his cross ; for 
the love he bears to his Church, which you should 
cheer by your example and aid with your zeal; 
for the love He bears to your ovrn soul, the edifica- 
tion of which you should endeavour after by all 
the means of gra^ce ; for the love He bears to his 
own holy name, w^hich you should vindicate 
from a scoffing world. 

You will have many excuses rising in your 
mind : You feel yourself too unworthy for such a 
vow ; but all the w^orthiness He ashs is a confes- 



THE PENITENT. 213 

sion of your own unworthiness, and a reliance on 
Hs infinite righteousness for acceptance. 

You fear that you will not act up to your pro- 
fession; but He promises you all needed grace, 
and his strength is sufficient for you. 

The inconsistencies of professing Christians 
stumble and discourage you ; but it is your busi- 
ness to save your own soul, and to show by Di- 
vine help the true effects of Christian faith. 

You are sometimes tempted to doubt whether 
you are a Christian at all ; but if you are not, it 
is high time you should be ; and the want of 
religion is a greater argument for your attempting 
to gain it by Divine help. 

Whatever you may urge, changes not the posi- 
tiveness of the command, or the truth of the 
declaration, that if you confess him not. He will 
not acknowledge you. 

It may now seem a slight thing to withhold 
such a profession; but will it be a slight thing 
to stand confounded in that day, when Christ shall 
deny you before his Father and the holy angels, 



214 EXHORTATION OF THE PENITENT. 

and tne gloriiied Cliurcli, because you denied 
him? 

And, Oil ! remember, that if it be your duty to 
make a profession of faitb, to postpone it is a 
grievous sin. Let not a single sacrament pass 
by without improving it; for, though you may 
have a hundred more opportunities, there will be 
on your conscience the heavy guilt of having 
broken a command of Christ, neglected a privi- 
lege of grace, and refused a testimony to religion. 
Can you be a true penitent, and thus wilfully 
increase your guilt? 



XL 

THE EXHORTATION OF THE PENITENT. 

(continued) 



RELIGIOUS EXAMPLE. 

11. The penitent exhorts by his life. 

As we have already seen, God employs the in- 
strumentality of Christians for the building up of 
his Church, and the conversion of the world. 
Their Christian virtues, which are the fruit of his 
grace, are the proofs of his converting and sancti- 
fying power. This is the idea of the apostle 
Peter, when, in his first Epistle, (ii. 9), he says to 
his fellow Christians: "Ye are a chosen genera- 
tion, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar 
people; that ye should show forth the praises 

215 



216 THE EXHORTATION OF 

(energies) of Him, wtio liatli called you out of 
darkness into his marvellous lio;lit." Believers 
are ^' tlie leaven cast into tlie lump," which should 
diffuse itself " until the whole is leavened ;" nor 
should the v\'eakness of the instrumentality detract 
from our zeal or courage, for it is through our 
weakness that the strength of Christ is made per- 
fect and manifest (2 Cor. xii. 9) ; as the apostle 
asserts: "Tfe have this treasure in earthen vessels, 
that the excellency of the pov/er may be of God, 
and not of us" (2 Cor. iv. 7). 

A profession of religion, therefore, does not 
constitute a religious life ; but is an avowal of our 
purpose to live, by the grace of Christ, according 
to the commandment and example of Christ. Our 
faith must be confessed, but its genuineness must 
be shown by our works (James ii. 17-26); "for 
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, 
and with the mouth confession is made unto sal- 
vation" (Rom. X. 10). As God not only declares 
himself to be the Creator in his v/ord, but demon- 
strates his glorious attributes by his works; so 



THE PENITENT. 217 

not only does lie declare himself to be tlie Re- 
Creator of tlie soul, but demonstrates his sancti- 
fying grace by the believer's works : "for we are 
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto 
good works, which God hath before ordained that 
we should walk in them'' (Ephes. ii. 10). If, then, 
the end of our original creation, be the glory of 
God, how much more is it the end of our new 
creation unto spiritual life ? and how is our duty 
to live for his glory, enhanced by the price of our 
redemption, the blood of Christ, and the riches of 
our inheritance above the skies ? A mere profes- 
sion of belief in certain doctrines, will be of little 
profit to our fellow men, and little glory to God ; 
since the avowed design of the Gospel is to make 
men better, and to prepare them by a good life on 
earth, for an eternal life of holiness in heaven. 
Holy principle in the heart will manifest itself in 
the outward conduct. We know a man to be 
honest or charitable, not by his professions, but 
by his honest and charitable actions ; so we know a 
man to be a Christian only by his acting like 
19 



218 THE EXHORTATION OF 

Christ. "He that saith lie abidetH in Him, 
ought himself also so to walk even as He walked" 
(1 John ii. 6). 

Our beloved Master not only taught the truths 
of his holy religion, but exhibited in his own con- 
duct the virtues which he enjoined, "leaving us an 
example that we should follow his steps, who did 
no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" 
(1 Peter ii. 21, 22) ; so are we not only to profess 
and spread the truth, but also to prove by our 
example, the purity, holiness, gentleness, and 
goodness of the Christian character. Men may or 
may not read the Scriptures, or listen to the 
preaching of the Gospel; they may or may not 
give their minds to the consideration of the truth, 
sufficiently for the understanding of it ; but, when 
a Christian before their eyes lives like a Christian, 
the truth is forced upon their attention, and by a 
concise logic they are constrained to admit, that 
the tree must be good which bears such good 
fruit. Nay, the very people, who, from levity of 
disposition, or weakness of mind, are the least 



THE PENITENT. 219 

likely to reason closely about religion, are the 
most likely to be affected by the conduct of those 
around them. Hence the false maxim, " Example 
is better than precept," derives no little plausi- 
bility from the fact, that the greater part of the 
world are more easily led through imitation, than 
governed by authority and principle. We are to 
avail ourselves of this imitativeness in human na- 
ture, by leading good lives, while we check its 
evil by openly professing that all our good is de- 
rived from God. Were a man, acting in other 
respects from right principles, to conceal his belief 
of the Gospel, his conduct would be rather against 
religion than for it, as showing that it was not 
necessary to a good life ; but, having declared 
himself to be a Christian, sinful and weak by na- 
ture, yet relying upon the grace of the Holy Ghost, 
all his good works become proofs of the Gospel's 
sanctifying power; while his evil doings are as 
manifestly inconsistencies with his profession. If 
he be cheerful, patient and resigned, amidst the 
tiials and difficulties of the world, men are struck 



220 THE EXHORTATION OF 

with tlie contrast to tlieir own conduct, and trace 
the difference to his religion. If lie be kind, gen- 
tle and courteous, meek under insult and forgiving 
wrong, where the natural temper would be selfish, 
irascible and revengeful; men mark the change, 
and see in it the transformation of grace. If ho 
deny himself, living above the world, resisting its 
temptations, and ever crucifying his lower tenden- 
cies, men will recognize him as a pilgrim through 
earth to a better country, and, therefore, content 
with little here, in the hope of a glorious satisfac- 
tion hereafter. If he be affectionately earnest in 
recommending the Saviour he has found, to his 
fellow sinners, that they also may become par- 
takers with him of the same blessed, sanctifying 
hope ; men will acknowledge the honesty of his 
creed, and the benevolent zeal which it inspires. 
Hence, ever since the first promulgation of Chris- 
tianity, it has had its greatest successes when 
Christians have been most devoted to the practi- 
cal duties of Christianity. It is comparatively in 
vain, that the preacher declares the truth, if the 



THE PENITENT. 221 

lives of the Cliurcli do not answer to Ms declara- 
tions. The oft quoted couplet of the ethical 
poet, 

*' For modes of faith let senseless bigots fight. 
His can 't be wrong whose life is in the right" — 

is self-contradictory ; for it first assumes, that 
faith has no practical control over the life, and 
then asserts that a right life can only proceed 
from a right faith. If a right faith be necessary 
to a right life, we should search, and even contend 
for it ; but, on the other hand, while we avow the 
right Mth, we should be zealous to prove that it 
is right by the rectitude of our practice. Faith 
and works are inseparably connected, for as there 
can be no faith without works, so there can be no 
works without faith. The error lies in attempt- 
ing to consider them apart from each other. 
When the avowal of faith in Christ and the prac- 
tice of Christ's precepts go together, they are as 
irresistible as moral means can be. 

19^ 



222 THE EXHORTATION OF 

Our Saviour, in the Sermon on the Mount, 
illustrates this doctrine by a figure so apt and 
impressive, that we cannot do better than devote a 
little time to its study: ''Ye are the light of the 
world. A city that is set on a hill, cannot be hid. 
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a 
bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light 
unto all that are in the house. Let your light so 
shine before men, that they may see your good 
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" 
(Matt. V. 14-16). 

First : It is affirmed, that the disciples of Christ 
have light. Light is sometimes put for knowledge 
or truth, in opposition to the darkness of igno- 
rance or error; and sometimes for holiness in 
opposition to the darkness of sin. Here both are 
meant, that is to say, holiness as the result of 
belief in the Gospel. The true disciple has light, 
for the effect of the Gospel is to ''turn us from 
darkness unto light," which, we learn from the 
parallelism of the text, is "from the power of 
Satan unto God" (Acts xxvi. 18); and the apostle 



THE PENITENT. 223 

Peter, in an afore-cited passage, speaks of our 
being "called out of darkness into His marvellous 
light" (1 Pet. ii. 9). The light of the Christian 
is not original with him ; but he is as a candle 
lighted by another hand, and from another burn- 
ing luminary, for the purpose of giving light. 
Our blessed Lord is the true Light (John i. 9), 
sent from "the Father of lights." He says of 
himself: "I am the light of the world: he that 
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall 
have the light of life" (John viii. 12); "For," says 
the apostle, "God, who commanded the light to 
shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, 
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of 
God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. iv. 6). 
His disciples are intended to be as so many lesser 
lights, deriving their shining property from him. 
For, although Jesus Christ is the true Light, 
shining for the glory of God in their salvation, the 
greater number of men are still in darkness. He 
has arisen upon his Church " with healing in his 
wings," but not on the whole world, as He will 



224 THE EXHORTATION OF 

shine in Ms millennial noon-day splendour; but 
as tlie stars, far above the earth, catcli the light of 
the sun and reflect it upon us, so believers in the 
elevation of their faith, receive and reflect upon 
others the rays of Christ shed upon their souls. 
The light is called our own, in the sense that it is 
entrusted to us ; but still it is the light of Christ, 
entrusted to us for the special purpose of the Di- 
vine glory in the enlightening of our fellow-men. 
For 

Secondly: We are to "let our light shine." It 
is the property of light to shine. We could not 
define light better than as. That which shines. 
Indeed, if our criticism were nice, we should find, 
that the word rendered light ^ is a derivative of the 
verb, to shine, and not the verb a derivative from 
the noun. Light must shine. The smallest spark, 
the slightest twinkle is in contrast to darkness, 
though obstacles may be put between it and the 
eye to hinder its being seen. So certainly will 
holy principle, when manifested, be distinguished 
from the ungodliness of the world. We may also 



THE PENITENT. 225 

cause or suifer our liglit to grow dim or go out, 
for as we said before, it is entrusted to our care. 
Thus a flame, to burn freely, must be fed, and tbe 
oil of holy principle is the truth. When, there- 
fore, the disciple neglects to study and meditate 
upon the doctrines of salvation, he refuses to let 
his light shine as it should. A lamp needs to be 
trimmed. The oil must be carefully guarded 
from admixture with other matter, or the wick 
becomes thickened and clogged. So, though Di- 
\dne wisdom comes from above, pure (James iii. 
17), there is much sin in the heart, which, unless 
we take great care, will mingle with it and dim 
its brightness. The glass or medium within 
which a flame burns, may be clouded by foul 
breath, or an accumulation of dust, and thus its 
lustre be obstructed ; so, when there is some Di- 
vine grace in the heart, a Christian may allow 
worldly feeling, or an acquisition of worldly things 
to diminish the beneficial effects of his religion on 
the world. A lamp may even be well filled, well 
trimmedj and very bright, yet placed in such a 



226 THE EXHORTATION OF 

position that no one can see it ; like a candle 
under a bushel-measure, when the house will be 
as dark, as if there was no light at all; nay, as 
soon as the portion of the confined air necessary 
to combustion is exhausted, it will go out. Thus 
a Christian (if such a thing were possible) may 
so withdraw himself from his fellow-men, re- 
fusing to manifest his religion by his practice, 
that no one will take notice of him, and all the 
benefit of his religion be lost ; while such is the 
nature of Christian principle, that without exer» 
cise in the relative duties of life, it will wane 
away and die of itself. In this way the end of 
grace may be frustrated so far as our agency is 
concerned. Therefore our blessed Lord says, 
that we must not only ^'let our light shine," but 
^'so shine that men may see our good works." 

Thirdly: The motive for this manifestation of 
Christian principle in holy living, is, "that men 
glorify our Father which is in heaven." Men do 
not light a candle for the candle's sake ; nor does 
God cause the sun, and moon, and stars to shine 



THE PENITENT. 227 

for their own sakes. His glory is tlie purpose of 
all that He does; and in giving liglit to tlie 
Christian, He means that not only the salvation 
of the Christian himself shall be to his glory, but 
that his good works may induce others to glorify 
the source of all light, our Father in heaven. 
By the demonstrative influence of the good works 
done by his true disciples, it is his purpose, that 
his truth shall prevail for the salvation of the 
world. The light we have is not our own, but 
entrusted to us for the glory of God ; and, there- 
fore, it is a breach of trust (the worst kind of rob- 
bery), not to live so that God will receive glory 
from our lives. The light is not our own, but 
given to us for a specific purpose. God needs 
not any return at our hands to himself immedi- 
ately, but has appointed our fellow-men as the 
recipients of the tribute due. Their benefit is 
the channel by which our gratitude and our duty 
are to reach his throne. They are linked to us 
by a thousand relations, all derived from and 
terminating in the heavenly Father of all. Our 



228 THE EXHORTATION OF 

obligations to God are, therefore, a debt due to 
tlie world; as the apostle felt when lie said: "I 
am debtor to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, 
both to the wise and to the unwise ; so, as much 
as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to 
you that are at Rome also" (Rom. i. 14, 15). In 
the same degree that the Christian is sensible of 
the grace of God towards himself, will his zeal be 
great for the salvation of sinners, and he will let 
his light shine for their advantage. He cannot 
withhold it without robbery ; without cheating 
them of the good God intended for them by his 
good works. Therefore, his love for God will 
awaken in him pity for their sorrows, sorrow for 
their sins, desire of their happiness here and here- 
after. The love of God in his heart will shine 
through his countenance, distil from his lips, 
breathe by his prayers, employ his hands, urge his 
feet, spend his breath, consecrate his time, and 
exert all his influence, that God may be glorified 
and man may be blessed. His ambition to glorify 
his God by his fellow-men goes beyond earth. He 



THE PENITENT. 229 

lets his light shine, that they may be sanctified 
unto God, and the mighty cloud of spiritual wit- 
nesses, beholding their conversion, may take up a 
song of universal joy, and distant worlds reecho 
the acclamations of praise unto Him, who by his 
grace of wisdom and power has brought back to 
himself and to happiness the dead in sin and the 
lost in guilt. 

To take up again the main tenor of our dis- 
course, it is clear, that our lives should be a con- 
tinual hymn of praise to God, and a continual 
exhortation to our fellow-men. No man can 
claim a secret religion. If it do not show itself 
by good works for the glory of God in the good 
of others, it does not exist. "Pure religion and 
undefiled before God and the Father, is this : to 
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, 
and to keep himself unspotted from the world" 
(James i. 27). No one should be at ease, nor 
think himself secure in a state of grace, except 
when like his Master ho is "going about doing 
good," and when he perceives that good is done. 
20 



230 THE EXHORTATION OF 

It is clear, also, that tlie Christian should live 
among men. Separation from the world is en- 
joined upon us, but that it means separation from 
the principles and practices of the world, not 
from our fellow-men, is proved by the example 
of Jesus Christ, who was continually among men, 
doing them good by word and deed, while he was 
"holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from 
sinners" (Heb. vii. 26). Our religion is per- 
sonal, and, therefore, to be cultivated in private, 
personal communion with God; but it is also 
social, and, therefore, to be exercised in associa- 
tion with our fellow-men. Love to our neigh- 
bour as ourselves, is as essential to a Christian 
spirit, as love to God. If the love of God fill our 
hearts, it must inspire us with love to our fellow- 
sinners; for "God so loved the world as to give 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
in him might not perish, but have everlasting 
life ;" and how can love be known but by its 
fruits? "Whoso hath this world's good, and 
seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his 



THE PENITENT. 231 

bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth 
the love of God in him" (1 John iii. 17)? Tliis 
is still more true of spiritual good, -which we 
may impart to the spiritually destitute. 

It is among men that our duties lie. There is 
the vineyard, into which the Master has sent us to 
w^ork ; there the good seed is to be sown ; there 
our light is to shine ; there the leaven of the 
Church is to w^ork ; and there our Master's exam- 
ple leads us. There, also, is the theatre, on which 
we are to act our parts for the glory of God ; the 
field of exercise, where we are to strengthen the 
powers of our souls for immortal life. It is true, 
that it is difficult to maintain our character, sur- 
rounded by the w^orld's tempations; yet experience 
has shown that it is not less, but more difficult to 
maintain our steadfastness in solitude. If the gra- 
ces of the Christian character were negative, and 
it were enough not to do wrong, we might content 
ourselves in such sluggish dullness; but, on the 
contrary, our duties are active, we are to do good, 
and not to seek the advancement of the Divine 



232 THE EXHORTATION OF 

glory, is sin. Christ has redeemed us for his own 
" peculiar people," that we might be " zealous of 
good works." We have no choice in the matter ; 
but shall find in this, as in every thino- else, that 
the way He marks out for us is best for us ; and 
that it is safer to be found in the way of duty, 
than shrinMno; from it. Vs'e are wrong; in runnino^ 
fool-hardily upon temptation ; but to desert our 
duty, that we may escape temptation, is a worse 
sin than we should be likely to conmiit by meet- 
ing temptation in attempting our duty. Such a 
course is not holy jealously, but cowardice, com- 
mitting greater sin to avoid a less. Even if there 
be danger, it is what we are forewarned we shall 
meet. 

Our Christian life is a fio^ht, vrhich we must 
overcome in, not fly from. Our Divine Lord has 
promised strength, if we are faithful in his service; 
and " greater is He that is for us, than all that can 
be against us." " Finally, my brethren," says that 
notable champion, who put his own rule fairly to 
the test, " be strong in the Lord, and in the power 



THE PENITENT. 233 

of Ms miglit" (Ephes. vi. 10). He has provided 
for us armour of proof, if we keep our face to tlie 
foe, but none if we turn to flight : " Put on the 
whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand 
against the wiles of the devil. . . .Wherefore, 
take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye 
may be able to with-stand in . the evil day, and, 
having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having 
your loins girt about with truth, and having on the 
breastplate of righteousness ; and your feet shod 
with the preparation of the Gospel of peace ; 
above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye 
shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the 
wicked ; and take the helmet of salvation, and the 
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" 
(13-17 vs). The coward, v/ho skulks from the 
post of duty because it is the post of danger, may 
not wear such honourable insignia of His sacra- 
mental host, who is the Captain of our salvation ; 
or, if, having attempted his duty, he becomes 
alarmed, and turns away, he is sure to receive 
grievous, perhaps fatal, wounds in his defenceless 
20^ 



234 THE EXHORTATION OF 

back. The Lord lias promised a crown and a 
glory worth all the dnst and struggles of the con- 
flict : " Be thou faithful unto death and I will give 
thee a crown of life" (Rev. ii. 10). ^' To him 
that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my 
throne, even as I also overcame and am set down 
with my Father in his throne" (Rev. iii. 21). 
The Master's sorest temptation was in the wilder- 
ness, when hungry and alone ; his greatest 
triumphs were won when doing good among 
men. We need his Spirit, indeed, to keep us 
safe ; but that Spirit is always to be met with, 
when we are following in his steps. Occasional, 
frequent, daily retirement from the busy scenes of 
life, is necessary, to keep the Christian's temper 
holy, humble and heavenly ; so the Master was 
wont to retire, that he might refresh his Spirit in 
communion with his Father ; but secret devotion 
is a means, of preparing for a Christian life, not 
the Christian life itself. Here it is necessary, be- 
cause of our infirmities and , temptations ; but 
above, when the life is perfect, the worship and 



THE PENITENT. 235 

the service are ever witli an innumerable company 
of saints and angels. Seclusion from the world, 
to which we are so much tempted when pressed 
by difficulties and chagrined by failures, is not the 
choice for a true penitent. The selfishness of the 
anchorite, the torpor of the monk, or the fantastic 
raptures of the quietest, have no place in the 
Christian's experience. It is putting our candle 
under a bushel ; abstracting the leaven from the 
lump, the salt ^ from the world ; desertion of 
Christ ; robbery of God, robbery of fellow man, 
and robbery of our own souls. 

The whole aim of our lives should be the glory 
of God in the salvation of sinners, not excluding 
our own. Our light is to shme, not for our own 
praise, but the praise of God. If we carry this 
rule in our hearts, it will uplift us above many 
temptations, and keep us steadfast in an onward 
course. Then we shall obey, simply and unhesi- 
tatingly, what God commands. There will be no 
questionings about expediency, no doubt between 
this or the other methods of doing good, no dis- 



236 THE EXHORTATION OF 

coiiragement because tlie blessing of success is 
delayed. As Christ's servants, we will do liis 
work, just as He orders it to be done ; our own 
judgment has notbing to do with the matter, for 
His is omniscient and infallible ; our personal suc- 
cess is nothing, so that His is sure, for we are 
united to him, and he rewards according to fidelity 
in serving ; our personal defeats are nothing, for 
He must triumph in the end, and knows best how 
to secure his own glory. In a word, we will work 
only as instruments, whose whole duty lies in using 
the means according to his directions, leaving to 
Him the giving of the increase. Then we shall 
not be fretful and impatient with our fellow Chris- 
tians or fellow sinners, because they requite ill our 
attempts to do them good, for our Master bears 
with them ; the Father is long suffering both with 
them and us ; the Holy Spirit continues to strive 
in their hearts and ours. If God, whose is the 
glory, be so patient, and so placable, what right 
liave we, his servants, to complain ? Alas ! how 
much of our trials, and mortifications, and quar- 



THE PENITENT. 237 

rels, and consequent failures, arise from seeking 
our own glory in wliat we profess to do for tlie 
glory of God ! How prone we are to frown, when 
any criticise our plans, or recommend their own, 
or trench upon our dignity, or cross our conven^i- 
ence ! If the glory of God were truly our aim, 
there would be none of this ; if the salvation of 
men were truly our aim, there would be none of 
it. The same love to God and man which prompts 
the Christian service, keeps him humble ; con- 
siderate of another's infirmities, because mindful 
of his own ; meek, because wishing to win ; gentle, 
because anxious to persuade ; long suffering, be- 
cause determined to persevere. 

Such a life is, indeed, an exhortation, saying 
in deed and in temper, more eloquent than, w^ords : 
" Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord 
there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemp- 
tion. For He shall redeem Israel from all his 
iniquities." 

Very awful is the Christian's responsibility. 
His character, his life before the world, is the 



238 THE EXHORTATION OP 

testimony of God to the trutli of Ms religion ; the 
evidence of our favour with him ; the main instru- 
ment, next to the promulgation of his truth, by 
which He chooses to accomplish the salvation of 
men ; the manifestation of the Divine glory in the 
effects of his Gospel. 

Tlie Christian is a temple of the Holy Ghost, a 
shrine in which the sacred lire is deposited, where 
the sacred lamp burns ; how holy should he be ! 

He is the light of the world, sent to lead men 
away fi'om hell, and bring them on towards 
heaven ; how careful should he be ! 

He is the instrument of Jehovah's praise, of the 
Saviour's mercy, of the Spirit's power; how de- 
voted should he be ! 

" "Wherefore I beseech you, brethren, by the 
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies (i. e. 
your lives on earth) a living sacrifice, holy, accept- 
able unto God, which is your reasonable service" 
(Rom. xii. 1). "Finally, brethren, whatsoever 
things are true, wdiatsoever things are honest, 
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are 



THE PENITENT. 239 

pure, wliatsoever tilings are lovely, whatsoever 
things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, 
and if there be any praise ; think on these things !" 
(Phil. iv. 8). Amen ! 



XII. 

THE EXHORTATION OF THE PEOTTEFf 

(continued) 



RELIGIOUS COIS^VERSATION, 

III. The penitent exliorts by Ms words. 
The faculty of articulate speecli, is so distin- 
guisliing an attribute of human nature, over the 
lower creation, that the psalmist calls his tongue 
his "glory" (Ivii. 8; cviii. 1); and the apostle 
James says, that "the tongue is a little member 
and boasteth great things." That which God 
gave to be the vehicle of thought, affection, en- 
treaty, persuasion and command, must be mighty 
as to its influences for good or evil.* Hence the 

* See the author's Oration before the Students of the Andover 
Theological Seminary. 

21 241 



242 THE EXHORTATION OF 

importance of governing the tongue is insisted 
upon by tlie apostle just cited, through a whole 
chapter (iii.), and he docs not hesitate to say, that 
if any man "seem to "be religious, and ^bridleth 
not his tongue,' that his religion is vain" (i. 26) ; 
while, "if any man offend not in word, the same 
is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole 
body" (iii. 2). So David resolves: "I will 
take heed to my w^ays, that I sin not with my 
tongue; I will keep my mouth with a bridle, 
while the wicked is before me" (xxxix. 1); and 
prays : " Set a watch, Lord, before my mouth ; 
keep the door of my lips" (cxli. 3). Our blessed 
Lord also says, that the inw^ard character and 
dispositions of a man show themselves in his talk : 
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh" (Matt. xii. 34). The power of speech 
over the minds of men, is seen in the history of 
eloquence among the ancients, and the care with 
which it was cultivated by those ambitious of rule ; 
nor, though the invention of printing has greatly 
changed the state of things, is its charm lost, for 



THE PENITENT. 243 

still both wise and unwise rusli to hear the skilful 
orator, while that style of writing, which most 
resembles good talking, is ever the most attractive 
and likely to persuade. In the means of grace, 
speech has a high place assigned to it. The Son 
of God, as the shining forth of the Divine glory, 
and the manifest character of the Divine Being, by 
whom God declares himself to us (Heb, i. 1-3), 
is officially designated as the Word. He kindled 
the lips of the ancient prophets, that by them he 
might speak to men. He himself, while on earth, 
was a preacher of righteousness, not merely in 
addressing crowds, but also in conversation with 
smaller groups and single persons, making known 
the truth of his law and grace of his Gospel, by 
the accents of a human tongue, at once so grand, 
simple, tender, and direct to the heart, that not 
the least testimony to his manifest Divinity, was 
the report of the Sanhedrim's officers : " Never man 
spake like this man" (John vii. 46). After his 
ascension. He sent down cloven tongues, like as 
of fire, upon the heads of the human preachers to 



244 THE EXHORTATION OF 

wliom he liad committed his Gospel, at once 
assuring the endowment, and asserting the value 
of a various and glowing eloquence for the work 
they had in charge ; and it is remarkable, that 
their written expositions of Christian doctrine are 
not after the fashion of formal essays, but epistles, 
resembling so much familiar, though dignified, 
speech as to make us feel as though the words 
came audibly from the sacred page. Still "it 
pleases" Him, who ever takes the best method of 
accomplishing his purposes, and who perfectly 
understands the hearts He has made, "by the 
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" 
(1 Cor. i. 21).. It is thus the ordinance of God, 
that his truth should be best made known by man 
to man, in the speech of man, with the eye and 
gesture of a man, the human soul shedding forth 
its sympathy with kindred souls. That this meth- 
od of usefulness is not confined to authoritative 
preaching, we know from the apostolical injunction 
to "exhort one another daily" (Heb. iii. 13), as 
well as from the reo-ard and remembrance which 



THE PENITENT. 245 

the Lord had for those, who showed their fear of 
him and meditation upon his name, by speaking 
often one to another (Mai. iii. 16). 

1. It is natural that we should talk with those 
around us, of things important and interesting; 
that we should offer them advice in difficulties, 
warning in danger, sympathy in trial, and remon- 
strance in error ; it is, therefore, characteristic of 
the penitent's better nature, that he should en- 
deavour by his conversation to persuade his fellow 
sinners from the way of death, and help them in 
the way of life. It is a means of doing good 
within the reach of every Christian. If we can 
speak to our fellow men, we can speak to them of 
Christ. "We should consider it most unfriendly, 
if we saw their health, or property, or character in 
jeopardy, and knew how the threatening evil 
might be averted, yet did not tell them of it ; 
how much more should Christian friendship move 
us to speak of what concerns their spiritual and 
eternal well being ? We need neither learning nor 
eloquence, other than what the grace of God and 



246 THE EXHORTATION OF 

an earnest honesty will give, for such a service ; 
and when we speak in the spirit of Christ, we may 
rely upon the grace of Christ to give us words, 
and our words a proper influence. The Scripture 
makes the neglect of this faithful office a sim of 
coldness, amounting to enmity against our fellows : 
" Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart ; 
thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and 
not suffer sin upon him" (Lev. xix. 17). It is a 
duty which we owe to God and our brother for 
Christ's sake, which we cannot omit, without diso- 
bedience to express Divine commandment, and a 
criminal neglect of our brother's soul. 

It is very wrong to suppose that by Christian 
exhortation, remonstrance, or advice, we are guilty 
of forwardness, presumption or intermeddling. 
We may err in the temper, or manner, but, if the 
duty be rightly performed, we do right, and may 
confidently commit the result to God ; nor shall we 
ordinarily fail of winning the esteem, if not the 
gratitude, of those v;e exhort, for such friendly 
care vrill bear, in the judgment of any consideratQ 



THE PENITENT. 247 

person, tlie evidence of regard, as well as fidelity. 
Thus the "Wisdom says : " Rebuke a wise man, 
and lie will love thee" (Prov. ix. 8) ; and David 
invited the righteous to smite him as a kindness, 
and to reprove him, as an excellent oil, which 
would not break his head (Ps. cxli. 5). There is 
not one instance of a Christian's taking affront at 
an honest counsel offered to him by a fellow Chris- 
tian at his side, for a thousand of his being sorely 
hurt by fault-finding behind his back, or public 
assaults upon his character; and, although the 
Wisdom says, also, that a scorner will hate an 
honest censor, yet in his heart the greatest scoffer 
must own the genuine kindness of the intention. 
Impenitent men expect it at our hands, nay, are 
surprised if we do not address them on the value 
of religion ; and, though they may fly out into 
anger, it is rather at the truth than at us ; but, 
even if we do meet with rebuff, it is no more than 
the apostles and prophets, and even Christ our 
Divine Lord, " who endured the contradiction of 
sinners against himself," met with ; and the object 



248 THE EXHORTATION OF 

is well wortli the risk. We show but little sense 
of Christ's value, and but little regard for immortal 
men, if, having ourselves tasted and seen that the 
Lord is good (Ps. xxxiv. 8), we are not anxious to 
tell them what the Lord hath done for our souls 
(Ps. Ixvi. 16). Nay, it is no small part of God's 
purpose in converting us, that we should be made 
useful in converting others ; thus David, in the 
penitential psalm (li. 12, 13), prays and resolves: 
" Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and 
uphold me with thy free Spirit ; then will I teach 
transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be con- 
verted unto thee." Nor will opportunity be want- 
ing. A man who has an enthusiasm upon any 
subject, is scarcely ever at a loss to bring it in the 
conversation, and his frank earnestness easily over- 
comes slipiit obstacles. So should a Christian be 
full of Christ, and, if he be, out of the fullness of 
his heart his mouth will speak ; when sitting in the 
house, or walking by the way, in a crowd, or with 
a single companion. The Master talked of nothing 



THE PENITENT. 249 

else but salvation, the danger of missing it, the 
wisdom of securing it, the advantage of having it ; 
and the more we are like him, the more like his 
will be our talk. 

2. This way of attempting good is well adapted 
to success. Every man has felt the power of 
honest rebuke or friendly expostulation, when 
given face to face. A Christian may have fallen 
into an error of opinion or practice, which he is 
not aware of, or at least not to a proper extent, and 
hence he goes on carelessly without self-reproach 
in sin, or loses the comfort and advantage he might 
have from truth. Then, if a kind friend tell him 
of his fault, it is like a mirror held before his face ; 
he sees the deformity of his conduct; his con- 
science, stimulated by the external application, 
recovers its tone ; he goes away to think, and, 
though, it may be, irritated at first, he considers 
more and more in solitude, or at his devotions, or 
when awake at night ; nor can he shake off the 
impression until he is convinced of his wrong, even 



250 THE EXHORTATION OF 

if he does not forsake it, and respects the truth of 
his adviser, though he may not confess it. 

Each Christian is liable to his peculiar besetting 
sins, or doubts, or difficulties in the Divine life, and 
these vary from education, temperament, or cir- 
cumstances. One is better informed on this point, 
another on that; and thus each may see in his 
brother what needs to be corrected, while he needs 
his brother's eyes to discover his own hidden 
trouble. Each has his own peculiar history, and 
one may be in great perplexity from not kaowing 
what the other has long since found out by ex- 
perience ; and a kind sympathizing word of coun- 
sel will come to him like a revelation from heaven. 
Each, also, has his peculiar studies of the Divine 
Word, one learning what the other has not, and 
not having learned what the other has ; each is, 
therefore, able to teach the other, and a combina- 
tion of their individual knowledge, by a free ex- 
change of thought respecting Divine things, will 
be to the advantage of both. This common stock 
of grace is the profit derived from a communion 



THE PENITENT. 251 

of saints. As the early Christians held their 
worldly goods ready for the use of those who had 
need, so should penitent souls share freely their 
spiritual riches ; and this cannot be done without 
a pious interchange of sentiments and counsel. 
Besides, such mutual exhortation is a great stimu- 
lant to activity. It proves to each that he is not 
alone, but that there are others sympathizing with 
him, and labouring for the same end ; thus pro- 
voking emulation and inciting courage, as when 
workmen, at a moment requiring their highest 
exertions, call aloud to each other, or soldiers in 
battle make the air resound with cheers. We all 
can do more when acting under a general im- 
pulse, than when working alone, because we kindle 
with the warmth of each other's zeal, and are 
drawn on by each other's example. In our strife 
against the world, the flesh, and the devil, our 
arduous duty of urging up the cause of Christ 
against the declivity of human corruption, we need 
all the encouragement we can get, and nothing, 
except the promise of God, or the Spirit within us, 



252 THE EXHORTATION OF 

is more animating, than the voices of our brethren 
exhorting us to put forth our strength with theirs, 
and promising their strength to ours. Therefore 
should we be always ready with the thought and 
exclamation of our text : '' Let Israel hope in the 
Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy ; and with 
him is plenteous redemption. And he shall re- 
deem Israel fi*om all his iniquities." 

So also will the penitent exhort those who are 
yet out of Christ. He knows the danger they are 
in ; for he was himself in the same depths. He 
knows the way of escape fi'om it ; for Christ has 
set his feet on the rock of promise. He antici- 
pates the blessedness of heaven, and would fain 
carry them with him there. All the arguments of 
human friendship and of Divine love, all the ter 
rors of eternal woe, and attractions of eternal glory, 
urge him to converse with and entreat sinners 
around him to fly, as he has fled, from the wrath 
to come, and find refuge, as he has found, in the 
forgiveness which is with God. How can he dwell 
under the same roof, meet in the same Church, ex- 



THE PENITENT. 253 

change courteous greetings, or walk side by side 
with those on whom the wrath of God is resting, 
and not speak aloud the anxiety of his heart ? He 
can talk with them of business, or pleasure, or 
science, or politics ; how much more should he 
talk of God and Christ, of death and the judgment, 
of heaven and of hell ? In the same degree that he 
is penitent himself, will he urge others to repent- 
ance ; and there is no surer sign of indifference to 
our own salvation, than a want of sensibility, and 
correspondent zeal, for the conversion of others. 

3. Our success in this duty depends, under God, 
upon the spirit and manner in which it is perform- 
ed. The manner will be so regulated by the spirit, 
that they need not be treated of separately, in lay- 
ing down a few rules for our government when ex- 
horting others by our words. 

We should be kind. It is the good of our 
fellow men that we seek; their persuasion from 
what is hurtful to that which will advance the 
good of their souls. When such Christ-like affec^ 
tion moves us, it will show itself in our counter 
22 



254 THE EXHORTATION OF 

nance, our spirit and our carriage. They will 
see it at once, and, at least in their secret hearts, 
give us credit for good wishes. Bluff, angTy 
language, or a dictatorial, fault-finding manner, 
will rouse them to resistance, or turn them away 
in disgust, however true what we say may be ; 
and, on the other hand, the smoothest, most oily 
words will not hide an improper, or counterfeit a 
good temper, but render them more indignant at 
the deceit. "We cannot expect to be regarded as 
friends, if we appear like enemies or traitors. 
Such was not the manner of Him, who was meek 
and lowly of heart, who wept over the sinners 
whom He could not save, and prayed for his mur- 
derers on the cross ; nor was it the manner of his 
apostles, who persuaded men to be reconciled to 
Christ (2 Cor. v. 20), and wept while speaking of 
those who where enemies to the cross of Christ 
(Phil. iii. 18). We are not judges of our fellow 
men, but their fellow sinners, saved, if saved, 
sanctified, if sanctified, by the same free grace of 
whicli we would have them to be partakers ; and, 



THE PENITENT. 255 

therefore, we should be humble while we are 
earnest, and meek while we are faithful, and 
gentle while we are importunate. Surely, if God 
remembers our infirmities, if the holy Jesus was so 
patient even when "his own received him not,'^ if 
the Holy Spirit is so long suffering, though sorely 
grieved, it ill becomes us to quarrel with and fret 
at our fellow sinners, for the very sins we are 
liable to and have been guilty of, and from which, 
if sincere, we desire to save them. If my brother 
in his rude rashness, strike so hard as to break 
my head, I can scarcely think that he has poured 
out an excellent oil upon me, or wish for a repeti- 
tion of the blow ; the natural impulse would be to 
return it ; or, should grace restrain nature, to get 
out of his reach. We must show in our exhorta- 
tions to duty, our readiness to join in what we 
recommend, asking his assistance to glorify God, 
while we pledge him ours. Like a good captain, 
though without assuming any such rank, we must 
say, "Comer not "Go!" 

Our exhortations should he wisely considered. 



266 THE EXHORTATION OF 

We ouglit not to enter upon so diflScult and deli- 
cate a duty without foretliought and prayer, that 
we may be guided by God's word and Christ's 
Spirit. It is not our judgment which we are to 
give our fellow sinners, but that of God ; and we 
should ask them to receive our advice only upon 
the authority of Him ^' whose we are and whom 
we serve." We must consider the temperament 
of him to whom we would speak, and gain upon 
him by gradual advances, not startling vehemence. 
A physician of the body would adapt his remedies 
to the constitution of his patient : why should not 
we, who seek to medicine the soul ? We must 
consider the time ; not pressing upon our brother, 
when his attention is necessarily distracted, but if 
possible, when his ears and heart are prepared to 
listen with some calmness ; nor, except in rare 
cases, or on occasions manifestly requiring it, 
before others, for that is an impertinent parade 
of his faults and our zeal, likely to provoke his 
resentment. There is great wisdom in the scrip- 
tural rule, to tell another of his errors in private, 



THE PENITENT. 257 

between him and thee.'*'* An honest courage will 
speak with the sinner alone, and not require the 
countenance of others. 

Our exhortations should he very earnest. Our 
faithfulness to God should make us bold ; our 
zeal for our fellow sinner should make us deter- 
mined, and justice to ourselves should make us 
frank. Reserve, concealment, cunning, are worse 
than useless; they deceive; and thus, being gener- 
ally seen through, defeat our purpose, by destroy- 
ing our influence. Next to meekness, frankness 
is the best virtue of a Christian when engaged in 
doing good. It is a matter of the highest con- 
cern that we speak of, the health of our fellow- 
sinner's soul, his usefulness to the world, and the 
glory of the Master; and, in such a case, not 
to be earnest is not to be sincere. Our brother 
will respect us the more from seeing us bent upon 
his good, and the good of Christ's cause. Besides, 
as the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews says, 
we are to "exhort one another daily, while it is 
called to-day ;^'' and our exhortations will show 
22^ 



258 THE EXHORTATION OF 

their sincerity by their frequency ; since every day 
brings fresh reason for urgency, and we have not a 
moment to lose, when there is so much to be done, 
so few to do it, the time so short to do it in, and that 
time so uncertain. To-morrow our tongues may be 
silent, or the ear of our fellow-sinner cold in the 
gTave. To-day^ is the only time of which we are 
sure ; let us then crowd it with the most strenuous 
efforts to save the souls of all we can from the fires 
of eternal ruin. 

'' Great God ! on what a feeble thread 
Hang everlasting things !" 

Such is the exhortation of the true penitent to 
his fellow-men. Such, my reader, be yours ; and 
when the day comes in which the author of this 
book, and those who read its simple but honest 
pages, must stand before God, to render our ac- 
count, may each of us be permitted to present 
many souls, won by our instrumentality for the 
glory of Him, who has bought us with his own 
blood, that we might be his own peculiar people. 



THE PENITENT. 259 

zealous in good works, and especially tlie best 
work of all, tlie recommendation of His Gospel to 
our fellow-men, by open profession, a consistent 
life, and a godly conversation, jimen ! 



We have nearly reached the last page of our 
little work, having led you with the penitent from 
the depths of guilt, through conviction of sin, 
prayer for Divine pardon, trust in the Divine for- 
giveness, and expectation of Divine favour, to the 
duties of a Christian life. Suffer a parting coun- 
sel : — Let us ail resolve to seek first the kingdom 
of God; first in time, first in earnestness; the 
kingdom of God in our own hearts, in the hearts 
of those we love, in the hearts of the world ; and 
all we need for this life or the life to come, shall 
be added unto us. 



260 exhortation of the penitent. 

Let the people praise thee, O God ; let 

ALL THE PEOPLE PRAISE THEE. ThEN SHALL 

THE EARTH YIELD HER INCREASE. GoD SHALL 

BLESS US, AND ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH 
SHALL FEAR HIM 1 



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